340 pages
English language
Published by Doubleday.
340 pages
English language
Published by Doubleday.
The mysterious death of their shepherd has sent a flock of sheep into a frenzy trying to piece together "whodunit." Overcoming their "sheepish" ways, the members of the flock realize that they may be the only ones who can solve it. The more intelligent sheep, who have better retention or the intuition to ask the right questions, develop a list of potential suspects. As the investigation continues, the sheep quickly find the conspiracy is quite large, including a significant number of residents of Glennkill, Scotland. The delightful story is chock-full of metaphors and analogies about human behavior, interaction and memory that provide provocative insight. Bailey keeps an excellent pace and tone throughout in a light-almost benevolent-tone that keenly projects the slightly nav̐e perspective of the sheep. She makes indisputably clear voices for all her characters, including male voices that most would be hard-pressed to discern as coming from a woman.