Set in a locale and a culture as rich and satisfying as good Southern cooking, Virginia Lanier's A Brace of Bloodhounds continues the adventures of JoBeth Sidden. JoBeth's a feisty Southern gal with an attitude, whose devotion to her highly trained and trusted bloodhounds involves her in kidnapping, corruption, drug smuggling, and every ornery law-enforcement puzzle that comes to light in her South Georgia town on the edge of the Okeefenokee Swamp. Lanier's adrenalin-pumping narratives, which began with The House on Bloodhound Lane and continued in Death in Bloodhound Red and Blind Bloodhound Justice, are told by JoBeth, who is alternately pulled and pushed by her loves: her extended family of friends and trainers, and her wonderful and appealing bloodhounds. In this volume, JoBeth seeks answers to a petition from beyond the grave, unearths a child molester, and faces a renegade alligator who threatens her pups. Along the way, we learn the rich details of mantrailing, Southern hospitality, modern moonshining, and--of course--romance. Those who have already made the acquaintance of Lanier's appealing family of characters will enjoy this installment. Newcomers will be thrilled that there are other books in the series. Pour a glass of fresh-made iced tea, kick back, and travel into the heart of this colorful and intriguing world. --Barbara Schlieper


From School Library Journal
YA. Jo Beth Siddon owns and operates a kennel, raising and training bloodhounds and also using them to find lost persons, criminals, and, sometimes, victims. Calling on her knowledge of the Okefenokee Swamp and its surroundings, the woman and her dogs find an abducted child and the abductor, solve a murder, sniff out a fire bomb, lead a successful drug raid, and kill an alligator attacking puppies. Jo Beth's superhuman accomplishments are balanced with human error, bad habits, and her own unhappy love life. Lanier quickly establishes the characters in spite of the sometimes frenetic pace of the story. Dialogue may take some getting used to by those unfamiliar with Southern culture, but it does not detract from the pleasure of the story. Descriptions of the area's heat and humidity and its beautiful flora and fauna conjure up evocative images. Tying subplots together, Lanier keeps readers' interest from the first words to the last with nonstop action. Her strong female protagonist sets out to make life work and succeeds despite frequent setbacks and hostility from several of the "good ole boys." Teens who enjoy this, the third book in the series, will want to try Lanier's other novels as well as stories by Margaret Maron (her mentor), Sharyn McCrumb, and Carolyn G. Hart, who also specialize in strong female protagonists.?Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
This title continues the series by Virginia Lanier highlighting Jo Beth Sidden's bloodhounds. They prove instrumental in solving the question of who killed Gilly Ainsley's mother. As the story tracks through the swamplands of Southern Georgia, narrator Kate Forbes's rustic, yet commanding, Southern accents mete out the danger and humor of this search-and-rescue tale. The many male and female voices retain their individual uniqueness via her skilled narration. Teeming with subplots, the story focuses on Jo Beth's mission to find a killer. B.J.L. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Book Description
The Sins Of The Past Must Be Paid For Again And Again And Again

When Gilly Ainsley shows up on Jo Beth sidden's doorstep, the smart and feisty bloodhound trainer and tracker is stunned by the woman's bizarre tale of deception and manslaughter. Gilly's mother wrote a letter before she died, a letter claiming that she would be murdered by the man for whom she kept house -- a superior court judge -- and Gilly want Jo Beth to bring the murderer to justice, at last.

Gilly's mother saw something she shouldn't have in the woods near the Okefenokee Swamp. Gilly and Jo Beth are in danger, too, and Jo Beth knows that the swamp guards its secrets well. To topple this fat cat judge will take someone who can see inside the criminal mind, train a pack of dogs to hunt out evil, and pursue an enemy until there is nothing left but the sweat on his palms.


About the Author
Virginia Lanier lives with her husband, Hoss, on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp in Echols County, Georgia.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

It is a rare Saturday for Jo Beth Sidden, the owner and operator of a kennel that breeds and trains bloodhounds, a Saturday with nothing to do but spend some time with her boyfriend, who has driven 300 miles to see her. But Jo Beth's life doesn't lend itself to leisure. Before the couple can leave for a picnic, a visitor arrives. Gilly Ainsley has a bizarre message for Jo Beth: a letter from Gilly's dead mother claiming that she was murdered by the man for whom she kept house - a superior court judge - and stating that Jo Beth would bring him to justice. Jo Beth has to rack her brain to remember Gilly's mother, whom she met once years before. But when it becomes clear that Gilly, too, is in danger, Jo Beth stops worrying and goes into action. Naturally Gilly will stay at the compound. Its security is first-rate due to the fact that Jo Beth's ex-husband, Bubba, a truly dangerous man with the reddest neck this side of the Mason-Dixon line, has been stalking her ever since his release from prison. It seems that Gilly's mother saw something she shouldn't have in the woods of the Okefenokee Swamp. But that place guards its secrets well, so finding out just what the judge is hiding there will have to wait. First a search-and-rescue call plunges Jo Beth, along with her best bloodhounds, into the dense, steaming, snake-and-gator-infested swamp looking for an abducted little boy. Then the town's first bank robbery in forty years gets everyone good and excited, especially a blind one-year-old bloodhound with long ears and a remarkable nose. And in the midst of it all, Jo Beth is devastated by a brutal reminder of just how hazardous it is to be her friend. Finally it is time for the judge. JoBeth knows that in a month of Sundays she'd never be able to nail His Honor for murder. But maybe, with a little luck and a lot of legwork, she'll uncover something of which he can be found guilty.

FROM THE CRITICS

School Library Journal

YA--Jo Beth Siddon owns and operates a kennel, raising and training bloodhounds and also using them to find lost persons, criminals, and, sometimes, victims. Calling on her knowledge of the Okefenokee Swamp and its surroundings, the woman and her dogs find an abducted child and the abductor, solve a murder, sniff out a fire bomb, lead a successful drug raid, and kill an alligator attacking puppies. Jo Beth's superhuman accomplishments are balanced with human error, bad habits, and her own unhappy love life. Lanier quickly establishes the characters in spite of the sometimes frenetic pace of the story. Dialogue may take some getting used to by those unfamiliar with Southern culture, but it does not detract from the pleasure of the story. Descriptions of the area's heat and humidity and its beautiful flora and fauna conjure up evocative images. Tying subplots together, Lanier keeps readers' interest from the first words to the last with nonstop action. Her strong female protagonist sets out to make life work and succeeds despite frequent setbacks and hostility from several of the "good ole boys." Teens who enjoy this, the third book in the series, will want to try Lanier's other novels as well as stories by Margaret Maron (her mentor), Sharyn McCrumb, and Carolyn G. Hart, who also specialize in strong female protagonists.--Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Kirkus Reviews

The third (The House on Bloodhound Lane, 1996; Death in Bloodhound Red, not reviewed) in Lanier's bloodhound series again stars Georgia feminist Jo Beth Siddon. And again there's a lot of lore pertaining to the heroine's chosen profession—the breeding, training, and employment (in crime-and-rescue) of those talented, sloppy-mouthed, floppy-eared canines. And again there's a loose- leaf structure that bears no resemblance to plotting as it's normally practiced. Here, Jo Beth's ugly-mean ex-husband beats up her best friend and busts up Jo Beth's love life. Meanwhile, her buddy Jasmine (a very respectable ex-hooker) breaks a leg but gains a lover; a motherless waif is taken in; an abducted child is recovered; a drug operation is foiled; and a corrupt judge is brought low. Jo Beth runs the lives of innumerable neighbors and employees who are entangled in her old-boy (and old-girl) network. She also bullies, not all that benignly, the various government officials who treat her or her doggies with disrespect.

Fans of Jo Beth's bossiness and odd predilection for physical punishment will again find her good homegrown company. A restyling and a trim of Lanier's far-flown narrative, though, would add immeasurably to its suspense.