A Mischief of Rats

(A Nell Ward Mystery #3)

by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett

Release date: February 28th, 2023

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I received a complimentary ARC copy of A Mischief of Rats (A Nell Ward Mystery #3) by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett from Net Galley and Embla Books in order to read and give an honest review.

…this part cozy mystery meets police procedural is an intelligent, authentic, and quirky read which I would highly recommend…

A Mischief of Rats is the third entry in the Nell Ward Mystery series and much better than the first book a Murder of Crows which I previously reviewed. Having not read the second book I was a bit lost in parts, but it was still good as a standalone. This time around the book had a much more cohesive feel and the prose flowed at a nice pace. Thankfully the dreaded love triangle is gone, and Nell is putting her life together after what appears to be traumatic trials, she endured in book two and starting a new life with her boyfriend Rav.

We begin with Nell in charge of organizing a race at her family’s estate featuring classic cars that have been converted with electric engines. We meet some of the race staff and participants, especially womanizing and reckless racer Jack Rafferty, his supermodel wife, and entourage.

With a complicated schedule of not only organizing the race, juggling a romance and the dreaded “meet the parents” weekend, Nell is up early helping her ecologist friend Mai put final changes in place after rehabilitating a woodlands pond for designation when they discover a car in the middle of the pond, and with the driver still at the wheel…. dead. When Nell recognizes the body as none other than Jack Rafferty she wonders if this was an accident or was something more sinister behind it. Knowing his reputation Nell is aware that the suspect pool is huge, and when a lone earring on the car’s dashboard indicates that her boyfriend’s sister might be somehow involved her life becomes more complicated.

This time around I really enjoyed this entry in the series. Author Sarah Yarwood-Lovett, who has created an intelligent likeable protagonist, Dr. Nell Ward who, like the author, is an ecologist, adding a nice angle to the story. Although I’m not fond of cliffhangers, this part cozy mystery meets police procedural is an intelligent, authentic, and quirky read which I would highly recommend.