From Publishers Weekly
Fans who have been howling for another chance to cheer for Jo Beth Sidden and her kennel of bloodhounds, who haven't followed a trail since Ten Little Bloodhounds (1999), can rejoice. Not only is the feisty heroine from Balsa City, Ga., back for her sixth outing, but her love life gets a real work out. After a six-week fling, Jo Beth and Sheriff Hank Cribbs decide that their hot but volatile relationship is too costly to continue. Besides, a handsome hunk's in town on a sad occasion and Jo Beth thinks she may be of some help. And then there's Jimmy Joe Lane, a swamp rat and inveterate prison escapee who's developed a crush on Jo Beth. His many kin regard Jimmy Joe, who's managed to parlay an original 90-day sentence into a debt of more than 40 years, as something of a legend. When Jimmy Joe makes his nearly inevitable next jailbreak, he can't wait to begin turning his fantasies about Jo Beth into reality. Lanier mines the situation's comic possibilities nicely without straying into farce and, as usual, turns an expert eye on bloodhounds and their care and training in this warmly entertaining concoction. FYI: The series' debut title, Death in Bloodhound Red (1995), won the Anthony Award and copped nominations for Agatha and Macavity awards as well.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Dog trainer Jo Beth Sidden and her assistant, Jasmine, offer dog-tracking services to the local authorities in small-town Balsa City, Georgia. In Lanier's sixth bloodhound adventure, an older woman with dementia wanders off into the Okefenokee Swamp, and Jo Beth and Jasmine take two canine companions on a perilous mission to find her. Meanwhile, Jo Beth is stalked by an escaped convict named Jimmy Joe, and she tries to decide how she feels about handsome sheriff Hank Cribbs. Gracious, kind Jo Beth is an eminently likable heroine, as is African American beauty Jasmine. Jimmy Joe and his eccentric "kin" are characters right out of The Beverly Hillbillies--over the top but completely entertaining. And, of course, as anyone who saw Best in Show knows, bloodhounds are irresistible. The perfect story to read while sitting in a porch rocker drinking sweet tea. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Bloodhound to Die For FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
A dog trainer by profession, Jo Beth Sidden has known plenty of hardship -- and seen the law from both sides. She found the strength to flee an abusive marriage, only to face the terror of being stalked by her ex-husband. When she shot him in self-defense, the shocking guilty verdict in her trial gave birth to a new kind of terror. She owes her current freedom to a last-minute miracle -- a legal technicality used to overturn the unjust verdict. Now Jo Beth lives on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp, on call 24/7 with her highly trained tracking dogs. In this sixth bloodhound mystery, as Jo Beth and her team cope with a couple of business-as-usual calls, Jo Beth also does some tracking on a personal matter: Someone she knows started a rumor that ended in three deaths, and Jo Beth needs to know if the person responsible was merely engaging in innocent gossip or actually planning to commit murder. Virginia Lanier deals with powerful emotions and serious subjects but still maintains a sense of humor. The result is an emotionally complex story with rich atmosphere and a compelling plot. Sue Stone
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Dog trainer and amateur sleuth extraordinaire, Jo Beth is in a heap of trouble. For openers, she has to dig herself out of a personal crisis. Confronted by her violent ex-husband, Bubba, Jo Beth ended the relationship for good - with a bang. Now she has to rebuild her life and, in between, give a little help to her friends who are in dire need of a good detective.
She's on the trail of a prison escapee, a good ol' boy so wily that even Jo Beth's best hounds can't sniff him out. Meanwhile, she's busy tracking an elderly woman who has wandered off in the Okefenokee Swamp, and at the same time searching for the source of a rumor that resulted in three deaths.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Fans who have been howling for another chance to cheer for Jo Beth Sidden and her kennel of bloodhounds, who haven't followed a trail since Ten Little Bloodhounds (1999), can rejoice. Not only is the feisty heroine from Balsa City, Ga., back for her sixth outing, but her love life gets a real work out. After a six-week fling, Jo Beth and Sheriff Hank Cribbs decide that their hot but volatile relationship is too costly to continue. Besides, a handsome hunk's in town on a sad occasion and Jo Beth thinks she may be of some help. And then there's Jimmy Joe Lane, a swamp rat and inveterate prison escapee who's developed a crush on Jo Beth. His many kin regard Jimmy Joe, who's managed to parlay an original 90-day sentence into a debt of more than 40 years, as something of a legend. When Jimmy Joe makes his nearly inevitable next jailbreak, he can't wait to begin turning his fantasies about Jo Beth into reality. Lanier mines the situation's comic possibilities nicely without straying into farce and, as usual, turns an expert eye on bloodhounds and their care and training in this warmly entertaining concoction. (Aug. 5) FYI: The series' debut title, Death in Bloodhound Red (1995), won the Anthony Award and copped nominations for Agatha and Macavity awards as well. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Series star Jo Beth Sidden (Death in Bloodhound Red), bloodhound trainer and amateur sleuth, searches for an escaped convict, an old lady gone missing in the swamp, and clues to three deaths. She tries, meanwhile, to escape the onus of killing her abusive exhusband-albeit in self-defense. An excellent read. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Attention to readers willing to blast through reams of information on southern manners and dogs' lives for trace amounts of mystery: Jo Beth Sidden, bloodhound trainer, amateur sleuth, and steel magnolia, is back in action after a four-year hiatus (Ten Little Bloodhounds, 1999, etc.). By page 38, murder's been done, and we know whodunit and why. Now on to more substantive matters: Jo Beth's passion for Bobby Lee-"her special love, a roommate, and a miraculous two-and-a-half-year-old bloodhound." Suddenly Bobby Lee's gone, dognapped by Jimmy Joe Lane, a loopy good ol' boy who's convinced he and Jo Beth were born to be soulmates, even though they've met only once, in Georgia's grim Monroe prison, with bars in between them. Now that he's paid his debt to society, Jimmy Joe plans to hold Bobby Lee hostage until Jo Beth comes to her senses. Meantime, there's a two-legged bloodhound to deal with: Dunston County Sheriff Hank Cribbs, of the "dark, flashing eyes and coal black hair," who adores Jo Beth almost as much as she does Bobby Lee. As Jo Beth tracks Jimmy Joe, Sheriff Hank tracks Jo Beth. Luckily, Jimmy Joe turns out to be a deep-dyed romantic, susceptible to blandishment and bamboozling. It's hard to add anything to Bobby Lee's overjoyed reaction to the outcome everybody's been awaiting: "Arf."
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