BIG BAD WOOL

A second case for the Irish sheep that solved their shepherd’s murder back in Three Bags Full (2007).

Something is very wrong in the herd’s winter quarters near a French château. Several sheep from an earlier flock have gone missing; someone destroys every article of red clothing owned by shepherdess Rebecca Flock; two deer are found dead, and then a human being and, more affectingly, a sheepdog follows. Clever Miss Maple and Mopple the Whale, along with Lane, Heathcliff, and the rest of the flock, think the most likely culprit is the Garou, a wolf-turned-human (or a human-turned-wolf). Except for Rebecca, however, all the people in the area behave strangely just because they’re people who do weird things like drive and buy groceries. What secrets is Pascal, the Jackdaw who’s master of the château, hiding? Is Rebecca’s friend Zach really a secret agent? Is silent goatherder Paul a werewolf or a werewolf hunter? The only characters the sheep can trust are the veterinarian, who can always be counted on to cause them discomfort and pain, and the goats who feed in an adjoining pasture. But even though communication is good between the two flocks, their relations are complicated by the goats who act like sheep and the sheep who wonder if they’re really goats. At length the sheep hatch a plot to catch the Garou that depends on “Lane, Heathcliff, a boob trap, limping, running, climbing—and a goat. At least one.” You can imagine how that goes.

Not by any means for everyone, but likely to warm the hearts and expand the horizons of readers who opt in.