Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann

Published by Allison and Busby. 2025. Imagine being a sheep and finding your shepherd dead on the ground. What do you do? Why is he dead, how did he die? George was not the most usual of shepherds. He read to his sheep every day and he had dreams of taking the sheep to Europe. Sound a bit wacky? Indeed, it is rather far-fetched but in a reasonably believable way. George named all his sheep and so we come to know all their personalities as they weave their way to finding George’s killer. They seem to get around reasonably well and do a fair bit of spying on the villagers, all so they can find out what’s happening. It’s a good thing they understand the human language.

I have read other books by Leonie Swann and enjoyed them thoroughly, so it was a no-brainer to read this. It’s even more unconventional than those cozy murder mysteries but filled with much of the same sort of humor. I wasn’t sure if the book would maintain its quality throughout, but I think it worked just fine in the end. We get to know many characters, both human and sheep and there’s a nice interplay between some of them. Some not too ancient history is revisited along the way and an old sheep returns to the fold, so to speak. There’s some sadness, quite a lot of humor and even a little bit of love thrown in. There’s a major movie coming out with Hugh Jackman and Emma Thompson and I look forward to this story on the screen. I think it should work well there.

Overall, I give this 3.5 stars and would like to thank Netgalley and Allison and Busby for giving me a free advanced reader copy. I have provided my review voluntarily.