May 27, 2019
Set in Greenwich, Conn., Berenson’s pleasing 23rd Melanie Travis mystery (after 2018’s Ruff Justice) opens with Melanie, who owns pedigreed Poodles, inviting several of her fellow dog show exhibitors to join a book club impishly called Bite Club. Newcomer Evan Major asks Melanie for help training his new bulldog puppy, but when she goes to his house the next day, the puppy is running free and Evan is nowhere to be found. Melanie takes the puppy home for safekeeping, but her irritation turns to horror when a police detective shows up at her door to inform her that Evan has been murdered. With the help of her force-of-nature aunt Peg, Melanie discovers that meek Evan was the accountant for an investment company that was no more than a Ponzi scheme. The angry investors, some of whom are members of Bite Club, lost everything. Could one of them have gone looking for revenge? Berenson smoothly blends crime solving with an insider’s look into the world of dog-show competition. This is a win-win for lovers of cozies featuring animals. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.
June 28, 2019
In Berenson's 23rd dog mystery (after Ruff Justice), dog trainer Melanie Travis has started a book club among her dog-loving friends. Despite the threat of her overbearing Aunt Peg, who also trains poodles, seizing control of the club, Melanie takes an interest in a new member who's just adopted a bulldog puppy. Things get complicated when she finds his dead body when she comes to his home for a puppy training session. Upcoming dog shows, her aunt's assistance, and a crisis in her dear friends' relationship involving a younger man all make solving the murder more difficult. Finding out the dead man had worked for an investment firm that scammed its customers out of their money is surprising, but learning that several of her fellow book club members were among those customers is even more so. VERDICT Fans of the series will enjoy this outing, and newcomers will find a satisfying mystery and plenty of canine content, including behind-the-scenes secrets of dog shows, which will make them seek further volumes about Melanie and her pack of poodles.--Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
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