Meet Your New Furry Friends: The Cozy Characters of Shady Hollow

Welcome to the village of Shady Hollow, a place where woodland creatures live together in harmony. Foxes work at newspapers. Moose own coffee shops. And a raven owns the local bookstore. Generally, Shady Hollow is a cozy and peaceful place to live, but suddenly a curmudgeonly toad turns up dead and the local reporter Vera Vixen has to solve the case. . . .

We fell in love with these pawfully charming characters from Shady Hollow by Juneau Black, and we know you will, too. To assist you in your reading journey, check out this character glossary from the first book in this new cheerful series. You can get to know the villagers and all their quirks (and maybe even some of their secrets). Enjoy!

 

Gladys Honeysuckle

As the town gossip and busybody, there’s nothing Gladys doesn’t know. She was the one to find the body and sound the alarm. But perhaps she already knew where to look . . .

Otto Sumpf

The grouchy, taciturn toad of Shady Hollow. Not many folks admit to liking Otto. The better question is who hates him.

Vera Vixen

This cunning, foxy reporter has a nose for trouble and a desire to find out the truth. Can she trust anyone around her?

BW Stone

The cigar-chomping skunk of an editor of the Shady Hollow Herald. BW (“Everything in black and white!”) loves a good headline. Would he kill to create one?

Lenore Lee

A dark-as-night raven who opened the town’s bookshop, Nevermore Books, and has a penchant for mysteries. If anyone is an expert on murder, it’s Lenore.

Joe

This genial giant of a moose runs the coffee shop, the local gathering spot. If gossip is spoken, Joe has heard it. Maybe he heard too much.

Chief Theodore Meade

Bears make excellent law enforcers: big, brawny, and belligerent. But Chief Meade seems singularly uninter- ested in solving crime when he could be fishing. Is that fishy?

Deputy Orville Braun

This large brown bear is the harder-working half of the Shady Hollow constabulary. He works by the book. But his book has half the pages ripped out.

Ruby Ewing

There’s no one more friendly and forgiving than Ruby. But Ruby has her share of scandals, too . . .

Reginald von Beaverpelt

This wealthy industrialist more or less rules Shady Hollow, but not his own family—there is domestic strife with his wife and daughters. And is the sawmill as secure as it seems?

Howard Chitters

As the timid accountant for the sawmill, Chitters accepts Reginald’s hoity-toity manner and casual verbal abuse. But does he know something about the sawmill’s finances that no one else does?

Anastasia and Esmeralda von Beaverpelt

The daughters of the town’s richest family are happy to shop and gossip, as long as their family secrets stay hidden.

 Edith von Beaverpelt

Rumor has it that socialite Edith is the real power behind the gnawed-wood throne. Control the purse strings and everyone listens . . .

Lefty

The small-time criminal about town, this masked raccoon lives in the shadiest part of Shady Hollow. But surely he wouldn’t cover up for someone else’s crime unless there was a big payoff.

Ambrosius Heidegger

Professor of philosophy and general know-it-all. The owl is the smartest creature in the forest and never lets anyone forget it. But is he too smart for his own good?

Sun Li

He runs the Bamboo Patch, serving vegetarian dishes to die for. But his past and his identity are a mystery.

 

Excerpted from Shady Hollow by Juneau Black Copyright © 2015 by Jocelyn Koehler and Sharon Nagel. Excerpted by permission of Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.