Customer Reviews

The Dogfather

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

 

 

Holly is assisting the local capo, Enzio Guarini to train his beautiful Elkhound puppy. The customs and lifestyle of a mob boss is totally alien to her. When one of his associates is murdered while holding Rowdy and Kimi, things really start to go out of control.

I really enjoyed this one. Ms. Conant has returned to the dog aspect of her first mysteries and the novel is all the better for it. The characters as usual are quirky and interesting and the mystery is very good. I am also glad to see Steve easing back into the picture. It is about time one of Rowdy's puppies appeared in a book also! Great and very quick read.

Once again, Susan Conant delivers a masterfully written mystery featuring Holly Winter, dog writer/trainer living in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

When Holly agrees to train a mob boss's new puppy, she doesn't count on getting involved in a mob murder. Interrupting the session to search for dog treats, she returns to find a dead body. The mob quickly removes the evidence, but Holly remains nervous, with good reason. Another shoot-out gives her a fright and lands her neighbor in the hospital.

Holly doesn't track clues and the murderer's identity is a surprise, although a clever one. While I kept turning the pages, I felt a little cheated of a true mystery. Holly's dog savvy remains unquestioned but I wish the author had given her a murder that drew on her unique skills and talents. A spoof? An author who can't resist the "dogfather" pun?
Regardless, I most liked the stories where Holly speaks the language of dogs to uncover the murderer. Here Holly turns over the stage to the ...well, Dogfather.

Holly's training tips are valuable as always (bits of roast beef work well as treats!) and we can welcome back her former lover, Steve the veterinarian. The author has created a quandary for herself: Mystery heroines with romantic interests tend to lose their allure, and Steve is such a terrific catch that Holly's resistance makes no sense.
Even Holly is beginning to realize he's a prize.

And Holly's cat Tracker needs to mellow out. She needs to consult a cat therapist! I have one dog and two cats and everybody needs attention, every day.

Mobster Enzio Guarini loves dogs. So when his new puppy doesn't behave, he sends his henchmen out to bring him Holly Winter, dog trainer and fellow dog lover. Holly knows enough about the mob, and about Guarini's reputation, to accept the job, but when one of Guarini's assistants is killed during a training session, Holly knows she's in over her head. And Guarini's attempts to help her, including intimidating an A.K.C. judge and possibly blowing up her car, let her know that she's in trouble. Of course, for Holly, trouble is a given. As if the mob weren't bad enough, she's got hostile FBI agents camped out front and an ex-boyfriend who seems to want to reconnect but somehow keeps missing.

Author Susan Conant writes a funny and entertaining mystery. The dogs are well integrated and are real dogs (not super-dogs who talk, solve mysteries by themselves, and otherwise dominate the story). Holly continually uses her dog training insights to 'help' her deal with people, adding to the humor but also increasing Holly's depth of personality. Of course, her problems with boyfriends, the FBI, and the mob increase the author's sympathy for Holly as she tries to figure out the right thing to do.

Conant's writing is funny and highly readable. THE DOGFATHER is perfect light reading, a cute mystery, and will appeal even to readers who don't care much about dogs (dog fans will love it).

Holly Winter, the heroine of this series, has always been tough and funny. Lately, Holly's become more irritating than tough and the humor in the books has diminished. "The Dogfather" is a fun weekend or evening read but definitely not up to Ms. Conant's usual level. In this installment, Holly becomes an unwilling "Dog Trainer to the Mob", making her way through a stereotypically east-coast Italian group of wiseguys, afraid of boss Enzio and his underworld underlings. In the course of the story, our strong Holly, usually so able to take care of herself, is reduced to watching as her career is jeopardized and her car destroyed. She doesn't trust the FBI; won't tell her friend, police officer Kevin; and puts friends and neighbors in harm's way. All in all, one wonders if she is still suffering the effects of the head injury she sustained in a previous book. The ending is untidy, as an item mentioned briefly in the course of the story becomes an unrealistic motive. And sadly, the Steve & Holly storyline is limping along. Ms. Conant's efforts to keep the two apart, in a misunderstanding about flowers, is straight out of a crummy romance novel. Holly badly needs to give that poor guy a break, before everyone loses patience. In their treatment of Steve, Holly and Steve's soon-to-be ex-wife are actually similarly thoughtless and unkind. Perhaps Rita, Holly's tenant/therapist, should point this out to Holly so that we don't lose what was one of the best relationships in this series. Finally, it is time Ms. Winter finds a loving home for her cat and admits that she hasn't got what it takes to be a cat-owner. Smart about dogs, sadly ignorant of the possibilities of feline friendship.

In her not so distant past, Holly Winter, dog lover and owner of two Alaskan malamutes did something that brought her to the attention of mob boss Enzio Guarini concerning his hated son-in-law. Although she never intended to have anything to do with him again, she is virtually kidnapped by his overzealous employees while walking the dogs. The ride gets off to a bad start when the dogs eat Enzio's cannolis before they are brought to his home where he informs Holly that he wants her to train his new four month old rambunctious puppy.

Not being an idiot who wants to relocate underground, Holly agrees to train the puppy. One day while Holly and Enzio are working together in a parking lot, one of Guarini's guards is murdered. Holly is instructed to go home and forget about the incident. However that proves difficult when a bomb blows up her car, an FBI agent threatens her and somebody takes a shot at her while she is dining with her policeman buddy. What can one expect in Cambridge?

The DOGFATHER is a hilarious parody of "The Godfather" with Enzio being the right Brando. Surprisingly, the mobster discovers who the killer is, not the heroine. The female protagonist tries to make the best of an untenable position and at times her actions are extremely funny. Susan Conant always writes an excellent who-done-it but this one is especially good due in large part to Holly's reactions to certain incidents, cannoli anyone?

Harriet Klausner

I read this book (and for the most part enjoyed it), was facinated with her description of how she first crossed paths w/ the godfather, so went back and read that book ("Bloodlines"). Unfortunately, what she describes in "Dogfather" didn't take place in "Bloodlines". She states that she and the godfather first crossed paths when Holly helped close down a puppy mill (one of my crusading passions, which also led me to read "Bloodlines") yet in reading it, one sees that Holly did everything behind the scenes. She never once was associated with the raid on the puppy mill; she did her rescuing under cover and the raiding authorities didn't even know she was on the premesis. So how could the godfather know about her if no one knew of her involvement? If authors depend upon us, the readers, to purchase their wares, the least they can do is give us credit for knowing their story lines and characters as well as (or even better than) they do.

And I'd be surprised if Ms. Conant hasn't heard from the Italian Anit-Defamation League. I was shocked to read such slurs coming from a Cambridge resident...!

P.S. As an avid cat lover, I'm horrified that Holly hasn't found a good home for that poor cat, Tracker. And Steve, as the outstanding vet that he supposedly is, should speak up for the poor cat too. I guess in some parts of this literary world, cats are just second class citizens....

I didn't think this was the best in the Dog Lovers Series but it kept my attention. As always, I learned a thing or two about dog traing/showing from Holly, Rowdy, and Kimi but the story was somewhat predictable. The "mobsters" were typical loud, flashy Italian folks with bling bling that get whatever they want. As for Holly and Steve, we knew they were going to get back together before he was even divorced. And of course the "dust mop with teeth's" owner was going to work her way into the plot because she kept showing up outside Holly's house. The book ended by tying up the lose ends but wasn't very clear about the car explosion. I hope Holly gets her spunk, intelligence, and Steve back in the next book.

Sigh. Does every mystery writer have to do a Mob-related story? I really love Susan Conant's Holly Winter books: I like the unconventional heroine, I love her malemutes, I like Steve Delaney, I like Kevin and Rita.

I'm Italian, both sides. My dad's family comes from near Rome. Mom's family was from Ischia, off the coast of Naples. I have so much Italian blood that bread is my Friend, the scent of fresh spaghetti sends me into transports of joy, I drool at the thought of proscuitto. But I hate Mafia stories. I don't understand the interest in these criminals.

I hope now that Ms. Conant has this peculiar mania out of her system we'll get an interesting book next time instead of this flirt with gangsters.

P.S. Holly: For cryin' out loud, find a good home for your cat. If you have to keep him locked up in the study all day while you fuss over the dogs, you're doing him as much disservice as those dog owners you criticize who neglect their dogs.

Susan Conant has done it again. A fun mystery, Holly becomes the dog trainer of the mafia. Problem is, they're happy to do her "favors" (of the mob variety). When one of "the family" gets murdered, the only eye witnesses are Holly's two dogs, Rowdy and Kimi. If you loved other Holly Winter books, you'll love this one. Written with humor. Paws up on this one!

Out of all her malamute books this one is close second to the end! It is full of innuendos, mobsters and misunderstandings but in the end it all works out for Holly and her lover.

Holly is asked to train a pet store puppy for a mobster. She leaves her dogs with a henchman who winds up dead with her dogs tied to the undercarriage of her car. While trying to catch a killer (and train the puppy!) she gets her car blown up and has run-ins with the FBI.

It all works out in the end. The killer is caught and she gets a new vehicle (courtesy of the mob). Plus, she gets her man back--for good!!!