Customer Reviews

Black Ribbon

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Finally, Holly winter and her Alaskan Malamute Rowdy examine the dog sport of agility while caught up in a mystery of Great Dane proportions. Members of the dog fancy will enjoy this story has will dog mystery lovers. Susan Conant writes with her hand on the pulse of whats going on in the dog world. She proves that it can really be doggy eat doggy. A fetching good mystery!

After seeking out and buying the entire Holly Winter series, this one -- my first hardcover purchase -- was the one that put me off the series for several years. Agatha Christie originally became famous by breaking one of the cardinal rules of the whodunnit (whoever is the murderer, it's NOT the narrator). In this book Conant breaks a different but even more important rule of the genre, which makes the entire novel pointless. I have not been so unhappy with a novel in this genre since Robert Goldsborough's faux 'Nero Wolfe' novel where the killer commits suicide halfway through the book, and the book continues on anyway. Later volumes in the Holly series recover some of the old magic, but this one is almost a total loss.

i really enjoyed this book and have read it many times. Ms. Conant is really doing well on her writing. this has to be my #1 favorite Conant book along with her 1st, A new leash on death. it is well written and has a good topic. the part where Rowdy saved Holly was 1 of my favorite parts.i dont see why anyone wouldn't like it.

I discovered Susan Conant a few years ago. I am an avid Mystery reader and am always looking for new outhors and waiting for my favorites to write the next installment. The first book in the Holly Winter series that I read was somewhere half-way through the series. Last year I decided to start at the beginning. I am now reading Black Ribbon and I must say I am very disappointed. Miss Conant does indeed go on and on and on as Holly Winter warns, and as far as I can tell, about not much of anything that holds my interest. At least not in this book.
I love dogs (own two, one mixed Golden and one backyard-bred purebred Golden Retreiver.) I love the training tips in her books but object to her attitudes about mixed breeds and "pet quality" purebreds. My mixed Golden is as smart as Rowdy any day of the week and my backyard bred Golden is as sweet as a dog could be. They are my best buds.
I also take offense to her attitude about "anyone who weighs more than 150lbs." As a matter of fact, I do. I haven't always but I do now, and I wear shorts!! Perhaps Miss Conant is a size 2, if so, perhaps she should be on the cover of Vogue. If not, how about not being so negative about the rest of us. After all, we buy her books, at least we have up to this point.
And as far as the Freemasons go, who cares!! I purchased her books because I like the original premise...A woman who writes about dogs for a living, trains dogs for a hobby, and gets herself involved in mysteries. MY KIND OF GIRL!!! Hopefully the rest of the sereis will get back to Holly Winter, Dog Writer who has a Vet for her lover.... Where is he, anyway!!

It's kinda funny how I was introduced to Holly. My girlfriend, Kimmie, really enjoys reading and she would read to me on our one and a half hour trip to work each day. We stared with Susans first Malamute book and proceeded in order. I finished "Black Ribbon" this week and was extrememly dissapointed. All Holly did was complain about camp Waggin' Tail. Basically all of the characters were made out to be a thorn in her side. None of the "regular" characters had any significant roles. It took me a long time to finish the book, because it just did not keep my attention. I just ordered "Evil Breeding". If it is as boring as "Black Ribbon", I won't be buying anymore "Holly" books.

This was one of the best of the dog mystery series that Conant has written. Of course, the reader simply must love dogs more than anything in order to enjoy these books because they are filled with lectures on dog-training, raising, showing - just about anything to do with dogs.

This book was better than others simply because it included more information about other people and pets rather than dwelling on Malamutes (which is a marvelous breed, don't get me wrong).

It also contained more mystery than dog information, which doesn't happen often in Conant's books. This little detail has never stopped me from reading everything she writes.

She is great if you love dogs and just want a book to occupy your time - but not take over your life until you finish.

As much as I love Holly Winter and her beautiful malamutes, this book was not my favourite in this series. I found the book a bit disjointed, and I had a hard time coming to the conclusion that Holly comes to at the end. The idea of dog camp for owners and their dogs is an appealing one, and I enjoyed the look at some dog activities that I'm not as familiar with such as fly ball and agility. I also enjoyed Rowdy (this book does not have Kimi in it). I did get lost in some of the AKC rules and regulations, even though I realize that these regulations are what caused the murder in the first place. I will continue to read this series for all the doggy trivia that Ms. Conant liberally sprinkles throughout her books.

In my opinion, Black Ribbon was a very good book, definitely among my favorites. My favorite part about the book was that it was about dogs and dog sports. I also liked that it pulled you in and was a quick read. Most of the time it was pretty easy to follow. Also, it was suspenseful, and you could never be sure of who was guilty of what until the end. Even then, you never suspected who was the guiltiest, and it was hard to believe when you found out. Plus, all the characters were realistic and believable.
Though it was a great book, there were a few things that I did not really like about it. There were quite a few characters so it could sometimes get confusing as to who was who; also, sometimes the dogs and their names made it a little more confusing. At the beginnings of the chapters it usually jumped around, talking about things that seemed totally unrelated to what was talked about at the end of the previous chapter, and talked about them in a confusing manor. The book did talk about dogs and it was obvious the author knew what she was talking about, but it was a little disappointing sometimes when you wanted to know more about something but the author didn't elaborate much. But overall, I would definitely call this an excellent book.

A loyal Conant fan, this book is my favorite. It has a great plot, well written, and keeps you interested. It is one I read over and over again!

I've read a number of Conant's books and initially found them to be entertaining. However, I've gotten more and more irritated with her obsessive negativity about anyone weighing more than 150 lbs and her cartoonish characters. One line in this book about how awful shorts look on anyone weighing more than 150 lbs was particularly grating. Harumpf! It's interesting to read her summarization of Malamutes as well and how she excuses their worst behaviors (dog-dog aggression etc). It's even more amusing to those of us who have chosen a 'better' breed (hey, it's all relative!). Whatever....after this book, I'm not bothering to read any more of her books as Conant's style becomes very annoying with time. Harumpf again....