Book Review: A Pug's Tale by Alison Pace

Hope McNeill has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for years, but this is the first time she's been able to bring her pug, Max (Officially at least. Up until now she's had to smuggle him in inside her tote bag)

The occasion" a special "Pug Night" party in honour of a deep-pocketed donor. Max and his friends are having a ball stalking the hors d'oeuvres and getting rambunctious- making Hope wonder if this is also the last time she gets Max to the museum. 

But when a valuable painting goes missing, the Met needs Hope's- and Max's- help. In her quest for the culprit, Hope is aided by an enigmatic detective, a larger-than-life society heiress, a lady with a shih tzu in a stroller, and her arguably intuitive canine. With luck, she'll find some inspiration on her trips to Pug Hill before the investigation starts going downhill. 

A Pug's Tale is the sequel to Alison Pace's first book Pug Hill,  haven't read the first book but I did enjoy this one.
The trouble begins when Hope McNeill crashes Pug Night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she works as a conservator. That night, Hope and Max discover that an extremely valuable painting has been stolen and replaced by a fake. Max is Hope's boyfriend's Pug who she is looking after whist he is away. Hope and Max have to find out who took the real painting  before anyone discovers that the replacement is a fake. It feels like everything is conspiring against them, the CCTV footage offers no clues and Hope becomes suspicious of her colleagues, even those who are helping to solve the mystery. Hope does find some assistance from Daphne, the deep pocketed donor who also has a pug called Madeline. Hope and Max put their trust in this eccentric lady as the mystery must be solved or Hope's job could be at risk.
A Pug's Tale is set in New York, a very canine New York. The book is littered with dogs, especially pugs and it is lovely to hear what they are getting up to. I enjoyed the mystery part of the book but I enjoyed reading about the dogs far more.
Alison Pace has created great characters in Hope and Max and I hope that they have many more adventures.

Many thanks to Berkley for sending me a copy of this book to review.