When veterinarian Peter Bannerman woke up to find his friend Tom’s barn up in flames, he was worried about not just his friend but also his 54 pigs. Sadly, the pigs did not make it, but more importantly, there was an extra set of bones in the barn. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mounties) found a human skull, with a bullet hole in it. So the fire wasn’t an accident. It was murder and a cover-up.

This sort of thing usually doesn’t happen in their small town of New Selfoss in Manitoba.

Peter is not an investigator, but he can’t help but want to solve the puzzle of what happened and why. This is a quality that makes him a good vet, researching until he finds out what’s wrong with a pet and then finding out the best way to cure the problem. Tom is his friend. Peter has been looking after the health of Tom’s pigs, and now he wants to make sure that Tom is okay and try to figure out who set his barn on fire.

Peter is married to Laura, whose brother Kevin is an investigator with the Mounties, so Kevin can keep Peter informed of what’s going on in the investigation. But when Peter’s home is broken into, his wife and her brother both think that he should back off from the investigation. But Peter finds that he just can’t. He keeps looking into what is happening, trying to make sense of what he finds.

When their house had been broken into, the thieves got away with a television set, some jewelry, and some pork shoulders that he’d been keeping in his deep freeze for Tom. But they had dumped the tv and the jewelry not too far from the house, where another resident of their small town finds them. The pork, however, is not to be found.

Between taking care of the area’s pets and farm animals, listening to local gossip, and training his dog Pippin as a scent dog, Peter stays busy. But he’s not too busy to keep investigating. And when he finds himself in grave danger because he can’t stop himself, will he still be able to find a way back home?

Fifty-Four Pigs is a murder mystery written with style and substance. Dr. Peter Bannerman is a smart vet with some clear neurodivergence. Called an odd duck, Peter has a good heart and tries his best to be kind to others, but he struggles to understand the darkness in people, perhaps a reason why he can’t stop himself from digging into dangerous secrets.

This is the first in a new series by Philipp Schott, also a veterinarian who grew up in Canada. His writing style is gentle and intelligent, giving readers a chance to step into the thoughts of someone who thinks differently.

I got to listen to Fifty-Four Pigs on audio, narrated by Miles Meili. I thought that he did an exceptional job with this story, emphasizing both the gentle intelligence of Peter and the growing danger that he found himself in. I did struggle some with this book. It was difficult to reconcile the gentleness of the investigators with the brutality of the crimes, but I loved the characters and I thought that the plotting showed a great deal of creativity. The audio book ended with a preview of the next book, and I’m already hooked and waiting for it to come my way, so if you’re wondering if I recommend this series, know that I do.

An early copy of the audio book for Fifty-Four Pigs was provided by ECW Press Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.