Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496718372
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$19.51; $12.99 Amazon
June 30, 2020
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As Greenwich, Connecticut slows down during a bitterly cold February, Melanie and her spunky Aunt Peg head to the city that never sleeps for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. Aunt Peg can't wait to demonstrate her judging chops on national TV, even after being hounded by frustrating mishaps -- all seemingly orchestrated by Victor Durbin, an ousted Paugussett Poodle Club member with a bone to pick. But the bright lights of the show ring grow dim when Victor is found murdered, and she's the one topping the suspect list...
Driven to solve the crime on her aunt's behalf, Melanie fetches hair-raising clues about the victim. Victor didn't score many friends with his unethical breeding practices, sketchy puppy café, and penchant for mercilessly scamming others to get ahead. He burned so many bridges that his own business partner admits to being delighted by news of his death. It appears Victor finally toyed with the wrong person, and as Melanie digs up more chilling evidence, she realizes that exonerating Aunt Peg means confronting a murderer who's in it to win it...
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Melanie, her family, and Aunt Peg are heading to New York City, where Peg is going to host a seminar on raising and caring for show dogs. Unfortunately, Victor Durbin, who hates Peg and blames her for getting him kicked out of the Paugussett Poodle Club for his unsavory practices with his dogs, has started his own Empire Poodle Club, and has slated his judging to be opposite Peg's seminar, hoping to lure away her guests to watch his judging. But his plans go awry when Peg's seminar is filled, and Melanie, who has slipped away to watch the judging, is confused when she notices that the judge seems 'off' a bit and seemingly giving awards to dogs who aren't, in Melanie's opinion, deserving of the ribbons.
Later on, Victor accosts Aunt Peg and demands that she has a drink with him, even though she asks him to let her go. Eventually Melanie, who can't take it anymore, forces Victor to release her aunt and they go on their way. But the next morning before they are to head to the show, Peg calls Melanieand tells her that Victor has been murdered. When Peg discovers that she's a suspect in the murder, she asks Melanie to sniff around and see if she can figure out who had a motive to kill him. But Melanie doesn't know what she's in for -- it seems everyone hated Victor and had a reason to kill him, including his own godmother...
This is the 25th book in the series, so it's been long-running. While I must admit that there were some earlier books that just couldn't hold my attention (mainly because most of the story was about dog shows and very little about finding a murderer), I am glad to say that this is not the case here. While we learn quite a bit about the show itself, the tale is still focused on the murder.
While Melanie is trying to discover who might be the killer, she learns much about Victor's life, and what she does is distasteful to her and everyone around her. His practices as far as dog breeding were compromising, as well as his relationships with women. Therefore, Melanie has her work cut out for her in trying to find the killer.
Meanwhile, she's still attending the Westminster with her family and watching Aunt Peg as she judges there for the first time. She's also dealing with the upcoming wedding of her friends Crawford and Terry, who are dog handlers, and the fact that Crawford is holding a grudge against Melanie for something she did in an earlier book, which is causing stress in their relationship. But still, this has to be put on the back burner in favor of finding the killer.
But when she asks questions, she might be hitting the wrong notes with some people, and she's trying not to burn her own bridges in the process. When Melanie does finally figure it all out, it's shortly after we've figured it out ourselves, which is not a problem; and finding the murderer's motive is very sad indeed. All in all, a good book that can be read in one evening and I look forward to the next in the series. Highly recommended.
More on Laurien Berenson's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/laurien-berenson/
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