December 1, 2024
Swann, a Glauser Prize winner for 2005's Three Bags Full, picks up her "Sheep Detective Story" series with book two, as the sheep of Glennkill move to their winter home, a French castle, with new shepherdess Rebecca. But the castle is not safe--deer are dying unnatural deaths, and the goats in the neighboring pasture think a werewolf is to blame. The sheep are on the case. Prepub Alert.
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April 1, 2025
A second case for the Irish sheep that solved their shepherd's murder back inThree Bags Full (2007). Something is very wrong in the herd's winter quarters near a French ch�teau. 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 ch�teau, 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.
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May 1, 2025
Swann presents her long-awaited second book in her wondrous, weird, magical, and humorous Sheep Detective series (after Three Bags Full, 2007) starring a flock of sheep with very distinct personalities and the ability to "speak sheep" among themselves, with humans playing supporting roles. Along with their shepherdess, Rebecca, the sheep have migrated from Ireland to a grassy meadow in France, and although it's located next to a former mental hospital and a field of rambunctious goats, it's nice enough. But with winter in full swing and snow deep on the ground, bad things start happening. The bodies of deer and other animals are found in the forest, shot and bloodied. The goats claim the killer is the Garou, who (bizarrely) emerges from a wardrobe in the woods and changes shape before killing its prey. When the sheep find a dead human, they decide to use their "woolpower" to track down--and stop--the Garou. This unique mystery has a tense and twisted plot that's lightened by bits of magical realism and the often-hilarious antics of the sheep detectives. A complete original.
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