Ruff Justice

May 14, 2018
Berenson’s entertaining 22nd mystery featuring dog trainer Melanie Travis (after 2017’s Wagging Through the Snow) finds Melanie’s 13-year-old son, Davey, competing in a Connecticut dog show. Davey is trying to gain that important 11th point that will gain a champion designation for his Standard Poodle, Augie. During a break in the competition, Melanie’s aunt, dog show maven Margaret “Peg” Turnbull, stumbles across the strangled body of artist Jasmine Crane, who painted canine portraits, in her vendor’s booth. A call to 911 should be the end of Melanie’s role in the investigation—until Aunt Peg recruits her to help Abby Burke, Aunt Peg’s dog sitter, find her missing twin sister, Amanda, whose landlady just happened to be the late Jasmine. The dog show world is a small one, so it doesn’t take Melanie long to discover that Jasmine was a user and con artist with a long list of disgruntled victims. Cozy mysteries may have cats galore to charm their readers, but dog lovers are well served by Berenson’s sweet series. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

May 1, 2018
Murder disrupts yet another dog show.Melanie Travis would love for her son, Davey, to finish his standard poodle's championship. Kirkwood's Keep Away, known to his family as Augie, has 11 points and needs four more, including one major, to retire from the ring a champion, and the Sedgefield Dog Show seems just the ticket. It's near enough to the Travises' West Stamford home for them to make the round-trip journey in a single day and small enough for them to know most of the competition. Melanie's Aunt Peg throws the first wrench into the works by deciding to show her poodle puppy Coral at the same show. But the biggest curve of the day comes from an exhibitor. Jasmine Crane, whose pet portraits delight the Connecticut doggie set, is found in her booth with a leash wrapped around her neck. Melanie, who's almost as famous for finding dead bodies as for raising live poodles (Wagging Through the Snow, 2017, etc.), wants nothing to do with Jasmine's death. But fellow handler Abby Burke turns up at Aunt Peg's house in distress because her twin sister, Amanda, Peg's petsitter, has gone missing. Now the independent Peg actually turns to her niece for help. Why meddle in a murder? Because Amanda rented a room in the late Jasmine Crane's house. Peg thinks the petsitter's disappearance must be connected to the pet painter's death. But figuring out the connection takes a murder maven, and that means Melanie.For pet fans who thrive on dog-show lore, Berenson's brand is always best in show.

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