Bird, Bath, and Beyond

Kay Powell is a talent agent for animals. She usually doesn't accompany her clients to the set, but Patty Basilico, owner and trainer of the parrot Barney, is sick, so Kay takes Barney for his part in the television show Dead City. When Barney's needed after the break, Kay leaves him in Dray Mattone's trailer. Within an hour, Mattone has been shot and killed in his trailer, with Barney as the only witness. Now everyone, from the police to the news media, thinks someone saw the murder—a parrot. Kay can't convince the police that Barney can't tell them what they want to know; he only repeats phrases he's been taught. To protect her client, she finds herself working with the police. This suspenseful, cozy mystery features a likable, well-developed amateur sleuth. Sometimes, though, she seems to be the only mature adult in an irreverent, humorous story set in the world of show business.