Live and Let Growl

June 27, 2016
Berenson’s middling 19th Melanie Travis mystery (after 2015’s The Bark Before Christmas) takes schoolteacher Melanie from her home in Connecticut to Louisville, Ky., where Peg Trumbull, her energetic older aunt, is serving as a judge at the Kentuckiana Dog Show Cluster. Soon after arrival, Peg gets together with an old friend, Ellie Gates Wanamaker, who like her has had a long career raising poodles. After years away from the dog-show scene, Ellie agrees to attend the dog show, where she encounters some unfriendly exhibitors. Soon afterward, Ellie is found dead on her family’s horse farm, now jointly owned by a pair of Ellie’s cousins, a bone of contention that Ellie was in the process of rectifying. Peg doesn’t believe Ellie’s death was accidental, so the aunt and niece do some snooping that lands them in partnership with a friend from Ellie’s past who concurs with their suspicions. Canine lovers will best appreciate this installment, which is long on doggie doings but short on sleuthing. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

July 1, 2016
Berenson's Melanie Travis series has been all about dogs up to now, but this time she adds horses to the mix. Aunt Peg takes Melanie to Kentucky, both to look at Peg's new Thoroughbred broodmare and to attend a dog show. Meg visits with dog-breeding legend Ellie Gates Wanamaker, who also knows her horses and volunteers to help Peg navigate the horse business. Ellie spends the first day of the show with Melanie while Peg judges, and Melanie is surprised to see some negative reactions to Ellie's presence. When Ellie disappears and is discovered to have fallen down a cliff on property she used to own, Peg and Melanie suspect foul play. Ellie's family name and money are a recurring theme as past secrets are uncovered. Like the world of dog shows, the horse business has plenty of built-in intrigue, and Berenson blends the two nicely in this clever cozy. Some road-trip premises work better than others in the mystery genre, but this one gels perfectly, with Berenson keeping Melanie and Peg's repartee fresh, intelligent, and enjoyable.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)