Dead Cow in Aisle Three: A Polly Deacon Mystery

By H. Mel Malton

The third Polly Deacon novel finds our heroine in the unlikely (and uncomfortable) job of designing a mascot (Kountry Kow) for a new mega-grocery store, despite vitriolic opposition by local merchants, including her aunt. This is nasty enough, but when allegations of municipal corruption arise concerning the sale of the property on which the store will stand, Polly's sleuthing instincts take over, to the usual chagrin of her sometimes boyfriend, surly Detective Mark Becker. But the scene starts to get really ugly when people start dying - not exactly the family environment that the developers desire

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0929141822
• ISBN13: 9780929141824
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Napoleon and Co
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Big-Box Bosco

Welcome to innocent downtown Laingford, heart of Ontario cottage country, gridlock in summer, snowmobile exhaust in winter. Rural puppetmaker and cabin dweller Polly Deacon takes the thankless but lucrative job of designing a bovine mascot for an incoming big-box store. Municipal politics pit one townsperson against another, Polly's peppery Aunt Susan forms the League for Social Justice, and small businessfolk quiver, though the giant corporation promises jobs for all. Can Kountry Pantree (sic) be trusted? Why is the mayor so nervous? Do the upscale lodge owners have a stake in the outcome? Polly's boyfriend, Officer Mark Becker, in temporary charge of his eight-year-old webmaster son, seems anxious to move their tenuous relationship to a sobering upper level. As maverick Polly wonders if she's compromised her principles, an accident turns fatal, and suddenly suspects lurk behind every maple tree.H. Mel Malton cranks up the woodstove in this third entry in her popular amateur sleuth series. Witty prose, velvet one minute, acerbic the next, complements a plot which pulls the reader in all directions. The humour is wry and the characters as full-bodied as the Kuskawa Cream Ale which brands the region: "a rugged, exquisite landscape full of deep, cold lakes, pink granite bedrock and dense forests...a tourist magnet, a resort developer's wet dream and a haven for artists." Spend an afternoon fishing on the sunny town docks, then follow the intrepid Polly as she tracks a killer. Oh, waiter, make mine a black cow to go.