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Kassandra Lamb
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To Bark or Not to Bark: A Marcia Banks and Buddy Mystery (The Marcia Banks and Buddy Mysteries Book 12) Kindle Edition

by Kassandra Lamb (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 out of 5 stars 107 ratings
Just because you’re paranoid...

Service dog trainer Marcia Banks-Haines tackles a locked room mystery in a haunted house, while training the recipient of her latest dog.

The border collie, Dolly has been trained to clear rooms for an agoraphobic Marine who was ambushed in a bombed-out building in Syria. But the phantom attackers in his psyche turn out to be the least of his troubles when Marcia finds his ex-wife’s corpse in his master bedroom, with the door bolted from the inside.

Was it suicide or murder? Marcia can’t see her client as a killer, but the local sheriff can.

Then the Marine reports hearing his ex calling for him to join her on the other side of the grave. Is his house really haunted, or is he hallucinating?

Marcia has lost a client to suicide before. She’s not going to lose another!
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  1. Book 12 of 13
    The Marcia Banks and Buddy Mysteries
  2. Print length
    292 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    16 July 2022
  6. File size
    3.4 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B3WNQY1Z
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ misterio press LLC
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 16 July 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.4 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 292 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 12 of 13 ‏ : ‎ The Marcia Banks and Buddy Mysteries
  • Best Sellers Rank: 605,497 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 107 ratings

About the author

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Kassandra Lamb

Kassandra Lamb

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In her youth, Kassandra Lamb had two great passions—psychology and writing. Advised that writers need day jobs—and being partial to eating—she studied psychology. Her career as a psychotherapist and college professor taught her much about the dark side of human nature, but also much about resilience, perseverance, and the healing power of laughter. Now retired, she spends most of her time in an alternate universe populated by her fictional characters. The portal to this universe (aka her computer) is located in North Central Florida where her husband and dog catch occasional glimpses of her.

Her first series, set in her native Maryland, stars psychotherapist and amateur sleuth, Kate Huntington. In her newer cozy mystery series set in Florida, Marcia (pronounced Mar-see-a, not Marsha) Banks trains service dogs for combat veterans and solves mysteries in her spare time, with the assistance of her Black Labrador sidekick, Buddy.

Kassandra is now contemplating another series, a police procedural, with a spinoff character from the Kate Huntington mysteries, police lieutenant Judith Anderson.

Kassandra was born in Baltimore and lived in Maryland for the first 50 years of her life. Like Kate Huntington, she was a specialist in trauma recovery for two decades. She also taught psychology at Towson University.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
107 global ratings

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Top reviews from other countries

  • Merrie
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story
    Reviewed in the United States on 17 July 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Familiar characters are back, along with new ones, to keep Marcia's tale going. I really enjoy seeing how the dogs get trained for their new people, especially since the dogs go to help our wounded military folks. The story is quick-moving and kept me reading well into the night.

    I voluntarily read an Advance Reader Copy of this book and couldn't resist adding it to my collection. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves great characters and an engaging mystery.
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  • Barb Taub
    5.0 out of 5 stars A clever, humorous, occasionally terrifying, but always character-driven series.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 July 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Marcia Banks-Haines has a problem. It's not that people mispronounce her name (it's “Mar-SEE-a” and never “Mar-sha”). She's no longer that Yankee divorcee trying to fit into a quirky little Florida town, now that she's an accepted member of the community. She's not avoiding marriage or children either, now that she's married to police detective Will and they have a baby on the way. And it's certainly not that she's still struggling to build her service-dog training business, because despite some tough times during the pandemic, she's not only established her business, but she and Will are also setting up their own private detective agency.

    No, the real problem is that people keep dying everywhere she goes. As soon as she gets a smart, adorable service dog ready to provide love and support to a new client, someone gets murdered. And Marcia, her service training dog Buddy, and her family and friends get involved. But with a baby on the way, a new career starting, and so much of her earlier life-trauma now resolved, Marcia is more convinced than ever that dangerous investigations are just what she, her dogs, and her family do not need.

    That certainty lasts until she's putting her crazy-smart new trainee service dog, a border collie named Dolly, through her paces in preparation for turning her over to her new owner, an agoraphobic Marine. Already uncomfortable at being caught in the awkward triangle between her client, his ex-wife, and her new fiance,  Marcia is horrified to look through the window of a locked room and spot a body.

    This is a classic locked-room mystery, and author Kassandra Lamb doesn't let us down. The essence of the true locked-room is just that: a seemingly impossible crime. As both Marcia and her new client are suspects, we explore the possible solutions.

    * In a classic locked room mystery, these might include a patsy trapped in the room with the victim, and thus immediately suspect. Although neither Marcia nor her client were actually in the locked room, they were in the house and the local sheriff treats them as suspects.

    * Another common trope is that the victim isn't really dead, and the first one into the locked room actually uses the confusion to complete the murder. Neither Marcia nor her client Herb know the cause of death because they didn't enter the room, nor did they see the actual entry when the police arrive to find what looks like suicide.

    * Sometimes the murderer has actually done the crime at a different time and/or place, and sets things up to make it look like it happened in the locked room. This can include falsified sound effects to make it seem a gun has gone off or the time-honored smashed clock or watch to confuse the time of death. Or it could be that the victim doesn't realize they have received a fatal wound or poison, and proceeds to lock themselves into the room before succumbing.

    * And of course, there may be a secret entry to the room which only the murderer knows about.

    I'm not going to tell you which combination of the above was used here, except to say that I was sure I knew the murderer right up to the point where the actual killer (and my error) were revealed. As always with Kassandra Lamb's mysteries, the solution is character-driven, and involves the author's own expertise as a psychotherapist to highlight the motivations, flaws, and strengths of the characters. But it is satisfying to see the ways Marcia has grown and developed over the course of the Buddy mysteries. It's still full of humor, local color, and a satisfying support cast. But it's also a chance for Marcia to show how much she has changed from the fragile young woman we first met in Book 1 to this strong, confident, and protective woman.

    I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a clever, humorous, occasionally terrifying, but always character-driven series. Each book can be read on its own, but will be so much more entertaining if you follow the series. After all, strong women, adorable dogs, danger, romance, humor, and mystery—what's not to love?
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  • AZ Engineer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Good clean murder mystery
    Reviewed in the United States on 31 July 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    I enjoy K. Lamb's books. They are well written; the plots are engaging and complicated enough to keep you guessing and the characters are believable. Good clean books without gratuitous violence, language and sexual content.
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  • LisaFL
    5.0 out of 5 stars So much fun
    Reviewed in the United States on 21 July 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Start at number one . The characters are fun, the mysteries and suspense are great! The dogs are so special, If you love series mysteries...check this SERIES out!
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  • Mel
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best Yet
    Reviewed in the United States on 24 September 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Great storyline - Marcia is evolving, and Will is excellent husband material. Buddy is my favorite dog. More with Elise in future books?
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