All Shots: A Dog Lovers Mystery [Kindle Edition]

Susan Conant (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Conant's entertaining 18th Dog Lover's mystery (after 2006's Gaits of Heaven), Holly Winter, Massachusetts malamute trainer and dog columnist, goes searching for a missing dog, a Siberian husky named Strike, and instead finds a woman's corpse. In the victim's possession are personal papers belonging to Holly and another Cambridge-area Holly Winter, suggesting the woman may have been indulging in a little identity theft. Even stranger, when Holly finally finds Strike, she turns out to be a rare blue Alaskan malamute with Holly's name and phone number on her tag. The two living Holly Winters must deal with their mutual dislike as they hurl into a hair-raising conflict connected to a crooked former dog breeder who'll stop at nothing to get what he wants. Conant includes a lot of insider doggy details and lovingly depicts Holly's interactions with her malamutes, Kimi, Rowdy and young pup Sammy. Sammy and Rowdy's courageous defense of Holly when the killer catches up to her will have dog lovers cheering. (Nov.)
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Product Description

Holly the malamute trainer isn’t the only Holly Winter in town. There’s Holly number two, a dog hater. And now a third H.W. has shown up. Unfortunately, this last one is a corpse that Holly number one discovered while searching for a missing husky.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 181 KB
• Print Length: 268 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0425217442
• Publisher: Berkley (November 4, 2008)
• Sold by: Penguin Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000W969PO
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,884 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

I was born in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts. The best friends of my childhood were pointers named Stuffy and Nonny. I had imaginary companions as well: a cat named Thirsty Melirsty Medrinkable, a family of dogs, and parents called Mommy and Daddy Suh. Thirsty and the dog family slowly faded away. The Suhs, however, perished suddenly; they ate fish guts and died. My career as a mystery writer thus began in early childhood: I invented animals, and I killed off fictional human beings.

Now, many decades later, I live just outside Boston. My husband is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Cambridge. Our daughter, Jessica, who is also my coauthor, lives in New Hampshire with her husband and their young son. My husband and I have an Alaskan malamute, Django (pronounced 'Jango') and two Chartreux cats, Kansas City (K.C.) and Shadow Celeste. The malamutes in my Holly Winter books are composites, but the cats in Scratch the Surface, Edith and Brigitte, are portraits of my own Chartreux.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Identity Thefts of People and Dogs, April 15, 2008

By 

Story Circle Book Reviews - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Shots: A Dog Lover's Mystery (Hardcover)

What happens when a dog-walker loses the blue malamute that has been entrusted to her and refuses to tell anyone the name of the owner because she finds out that the woman--Holly Winter--was murdered?

To add to the dog-walker's dilemma, a dog rescuer--a second Holly Winter--shows up to help her find the lost dog.

As if that weren't enough, a third Holly Winter emerges to protest the theft of her identity. Mayhem ensues when a Harley-riding stranger who mistook Holly Winter the dog rescuer for the dead Holly Winter shows up at her house looking for...guess what! It's a good thing the dogs know one Holly from another because they become the human rescuers.

Susan Conant weaves this who's-who mystery around interesting people and places with catchy names--like dog owners named Yappel and Woofenden (do their dogs yap and woof a lot?), the LaundroMutt (a self-service dog wash), and the Loaves and Fishes supermarket. She also gives us some insight into dog shows, dog trainers, and folks who rescue dogs. Aren't dogs lucky that there are people who are so dedicated? There's also some history thrown in about Massachusetts and Maine.

This story has it all--murder, mystery, drug dealers, identity thefts, dog rescues, and a pack of out-of-the-ordinary characters. Sometimes I was confused, but maybe Conant meant for that to happen with the identity thefts of people and dogs alike. Still it's a delightfully convoluted plot made even more so by all of the sub plots.

So, curl up in your favorite chair--with your favorite furry friend if you have one--and enjoy.

by Doris Anne Roop-Benner
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Last Legs?, January 5, 2008

By 

K. A. Lamoree (Lehigh Valley USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All Shots: A Dog Lover's Mystery (Hardcover)

I have been an avid fan of this series since I discovered it, but the latest installment- All Shots- left me confused. I honestly had to check to see if I had taken cold medicine while I was reading it. Part of it is that for what I believe is the first time, (the third person point of view is used sporadically) and the plot us unclear.

The protagonist of the series, Holly Winter, stumbles across another crime scene in the progress of her daily activities. This time there is a strange factor in that the victim has the same name. There is a missing malamute involved and apparently another Holly Winter right there in Cambridge, who is right out of central casting for smug intellectual Yuppie. The usual supporting cast characters is diminished, as Holly's husband Steve and tenant Rita are away on separate trips, leaving only annoying cousin Leah and upstanding police officer neighbor Kevin as back up.

I really did not have a sense of why exactly the first person was killed and why, other than a vague something to do with drugs. The usual meticulous characterization and plotting are just not there this time.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I liked this book, March 29, 2008

By 

Barbara Mcauliffe - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: All Shots: A Dog Lovers Mystery (Kindle Edition)

I've been a fan of Susan Conant's books since the beginning and I don't understand why some long time fans seem so disapointed by this.

It's the usual mix of cheery off topic discussions, odd characters and dog training. What's not to like.

What I especially liked was that the husband wasn't around. I think he's a bore, I don't know why Holly married him and I can't imagine how the author is going to use him in the future.

If you're a fan of the series you'll enjoy this, and if your not a fan, but want a funny, light murder mystery with dogs, you can't miss with this one.