From Publishers Weekly
Few readers, other than Conant's most devoted fans, will yap happily at her latest Dog Lover's mystery (after The Barker Street Regulars). Canine-crusading sleuth Holly Winter has signed a contract for a book of photographs about the famous Morris and Essex Dog Shows. In researching the events, she encounters an elderly man, B. Robert Motherway, who attended the shows as a youth. Interviewing him, Holly is introduced to his disquieting household: a son and daughter-in-law who are treated like servants, an unseen and deathly ill wife and a haughty grandson. When seemingly natural death and then outright murder visit Motherway family members, Holly pokes her nose in to scent out the truth. With the help of some anonymous letters and her shrewd friend Althea, Holly pieces together the dangerous secrets behind the Motherways' facade of patrician privilege. Canine lore and Conant's proselytizing against evil dog-breeding practices tend to swamp the meager but melodramatic plot, and her villains are so hazily sketched that readers might wonder how they engender any fear. The Barker Street Regulars was a much more accomplished story than this; hopefully Conant's next will be, too. Agent, Deborah Schneider. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Holly Winter, a Boston dog trainer, writer, and sleuth, has a contract to write a book about Rockefeller heiress Geraldine R. Dodge and her pre^-World War II Morris and Essex dog shows. In researching the book, Holly is drawn into a murder, a case of domestic abuse, and evidence of a Nazi spy ring. This twelfth Holly Winter mystery is filled with facts about dog breeding as well as training how-tos. Conant continues to develop her human and canine characters and to reveal the wonderful museums, parks and cemeteries of Boston. Unfortunately, this work is not as strong as The Barker Street Irregulars ; Conant has trouble weaving together the disparate story lines. Recommend it to devoted fans of Conant and other dog mysteries, but Lanier's Ten Little Bloodhounds (see review, p.1481) is a better example of the canine crime subgenre. John Rowen
Review
Praise for Susan Conant's Dog Lover's Mysteries:
The Barker Street Regulars:
"The unique and witty perspective of Holly Winter makes this novel dog-gone fun to read."
--Virginia Quarterly Review
"Anyone interested in dogs, spiritualism, or Sherlock Holmes will find much to enjoy here."
--Booklist
Animal Appetite:
"Swift and engrossing--Conant presents a witty, independent, yet fallible sleuth with inordinate pride in her two Alaskan malamutes. Why not?--they steal every scene."
--Publishers Weekly
Stud Rites:
"Conant's characterizations are dead-on and her descriptions of doggy kitsch...are hilarious."
--Los Angeles Times
Black Ribbon:
"Conant's people and dogs, dialogue and obsessions hold the interest chapter upon chapter, long before blood is drawn and long after."
--Mobile Register
Ruffly Speaking
"A real tag-wagger for lots of readers."
--Washington Post
Bloodlines:
"Lively, funny, and absolutely premium. Conant's readers--with ears up and alert eyes--eagerly await her next."
--Kirkus Reviews
Gone to the Dogs:
"Conant infuses her writing with a healthy dose of humor about Holly's Fido-loving friends and other Cambridge clichés. The target of her considerable wit clearly emerges as human nature."
--Publishers Weekly
Review
Praise for Susan Conant's Dog Lover's Mysteries:
The Barker Street Regulars:
"The unique and witty perspective of Holly Winter makes this novel dog-gone fun to read."
--Virginia Quarterly Review
"Anyone interested in dogs, spiritualism, or Sherlock Holmes will find much to enjoy here."
--Booklist
Animal Appetite:
"Swift and engrossing--Conant presents a witty, independent, yet fallible sleuth with inordinate pride in her two Alaskan malamutes. Why not?--they steal every scene."
--Publishers Weekly
Stud Rites:
"Conant's characterizations are dead-on and her descriptions of doggy kitsch...are hilarious."
--Los Angeles Times
Black Ribbon:
"Conant's people and dogs, dialogue and obsessions hold the interest chapter upon chapter, long before blood is drawn and long after."
--Mobile Register
Ruffly Speaking
"A real tag-wagger for lots of readers."
--Washington Post
Bloodlines:
"Lively, funny, and absolutely premium. Conant's readers--with ears up and alert eyes--eagerly await her next."
--Kirkus Reviews
Gone to the Dogs:
"Conant infuses her writing with a healthy dose of humor about Holly's Fido-loving friends and other Cambridge clichés. The target of her considerable wit clearly emerges as human nature."
--Publishers Weekly
Evil Breeding: A Dog Lover's Mystery FROM THE PUBLISHER
Holly Winter has a contract to write the text for a book of photographs commemorating the legendary Morris and Essex Dog Shows, canine extravaganzas produced by the fabulously wealthy and famously dog-obsessed Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge in the years leading up to World War II. Needless to say, Holly is delighted with the assignment, and immediately sets out to interview one of the few remaining people who actual attended one of the shows - B. Robert Motherway, a Princeton classmate of the Dodges' late son. It only takes one vist for Holly to realize that there is something strange going on the Motherway household: a wife dying painfully in an upstairs bedroom, a daughter-in-law acting as a maid, a sullen son playing the role of kennel man, and - most distressing of all - a German shepherd that growls menacingly. Soon Holly begins to receive mysterious anonymous packages in the mail: a leaflet describing a popular dog medicine, cryptic letters written in German, a couple of old photographs. Who could be sending them, and what do they mean? When Motherway's disagreeable son is found garroted in Mount Auburn Cemetery, the circumstances convince Holly that she must find the answers before she herself becomes the next victim.
Art & Photography
Book Info
