The Cashmere Kid: Review

The Cashmere Kid by Barbara Comfort is a cozy mystery set on a Vermont goat farm. Tish McWhinny is a septuagenarian sleuth who has been called on to help her "sort-of niece" Sophie as she begins her dream of raising goats for Cashmere wool. Sophie has just set up shop with a load of girlish goats and her imported billy...William the Conqueror, a valuable pedigreed stud who's going to make Sophie rich. 

The trouble begins when the Conqueror disappears and then a neighbor is murdered in broad daylight with a golf club. Did Simpson see who took the valuable goat? Or are there other nefarious deeds afoot? Tish is determined to find Sophie's goat and discover the murderer. She is helped by her friend Hilary, an eighty-year-old curmudgeonly widower, Sophie's brother Sandy, and the tobacco-spewin', self-proclaimed goat expert Newt. She's up to her arthritic knees in mud and suspects and must wade through gold-seekers, nude fun and games in the barn, toxic-waste dumpers, and a goat-lifing scam artist to discover the truth.

I have to say that this just didn't do much for me. There's an awful lot of info on goat farming and the habits of goats--which may be interesting if one has a hankering to know about such things, but really isn't vital to the story itself. The characters aren't all that engaging either and the plot is full of holes. I don't think I'll be looking for other titles in the series. ★★