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THE COZY TIMES

This is a weekly online publication focused on connecting cozy mystery readers to favorite cozy characters by way of their town's newspapers. 

The Cozy Times dug around in the archives and found some interesting stories out of Arizona. So today we're featuring the 

Sunnydale Star

Wow, sounds like things were going to 

the dogs in Sunnydale! 

Check it out!

Marauding Chihuahuas Terrorize Neighborhood

As if rattlesnakes, coyotes, and scorpions weren’t enough, now there’s another dangerous desert animal to avoid: Chihuahuas. A feral pack of the little dogs have taken over Sunnydale (pop. 31,000), a retirement community west of Phoenix.  The dogs have been stealing food, tearing up golf course landscaping, and threatening residents. They’ve even taken a hostage—of sorts. Marge Weiss’s pet pug Lassie was last seen running with the pack. “I’m scared to death for him,” said Weiss, a well-known former Broadway actress. “I’ve even hired a private investigator, Ivy Meadows, to find him.”

Though Weiss is more worried about the pack running into a coyote or even a car, the dogs themselves pose a danger to residents. “They’re vicious,” said a Sunnydale resident, who declined to be named. “A bunch of them went after me when I was outside barbecuing.” He rolled up his pant leg to reveal a big Band-Aid. “They don’t call them ‘anklebiters’ for nothing.”

“Gunfight” at Gold Bug Gulch Turns Deadly

At Gold Bug Gulch, the recently opened ghost town turned Western theme park, visitors can enjoy cowboy-inspired fare at the saloon, ride horses past the old abandoned mine, and of course, watch choreographed “gunfights” on the town’s main street. It’s a safe, family-friendly version of the Old West, or as least it was until last night, when one of the cowboy actors was killed during the staged

gunfight. The victim, Michael “Mongo” Carver, was a fourth generation Arizonan whose family had ranched in the area for over a hundred years. “We’re not sure what went wrong,” said Nathan DiRienzi, the Philadelphia impresario who created the theme park. “The actors’ guns are always filled with blanks, and they check them before every show.” The incident is under investigation, but DiRienzi says Gold Bug Gulch will be open for business next weekend—without a gunfight.

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That's this week's edition of 

The Cozy Times 

I hope you enjoyed!

A special thank you to editor, staff reporter, and author Cindy Brown for sharing the these articles from the Sunnydale Star with The Cozy Times.

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To learn more about Sunndydale, and 

it's residents, read the 

Ivy Meadows Mysteries by author 

Cindy Brown

BOOK ONE                                     BOOK TWO 

BOOK THREE                                    BOOK FOUR

Book four, IVY GET YOUR GUN, 

is the newest book in this fun series. 

There’s a new sheriff in town—and she can sing! When Gold Bug Gulch’s actor-gunslinger Mongo winds up shot for real, actress and part-time PI Ivy Meadows goes undercover as the ingénue in the tourist town’s melodrama. Unfortunately, she’s distracted by a pack of marauding Chihuahuas, a problematic love life, auditions for Annie Get Your Gun, and a personal mission: to show people the real Annie Oakley.

What’s more, the no-good, yellow-bellied varmint who killed Mongo isn’t finished with the Gulch—or with Ivy. Will our heroine prove she can get a man with a gun—before the killer gets her?

Related subjects include: cozy mysteries, women sleuths, murder mystery series, whodunit mysteries (whodunnit), amateur sleuth books, book club recommendations, humorous murder mysteries, private investigator mystery series.

Get your copy of this 

May 16 release today!

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