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Gone to the Dogs [Hardcover]

Susan Conant (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 1, 1992
The disappearance of veterinarian Oscar Patterson leads Holly Winter, her veterinarian lover, Steve, and her two malamutes, Rowdi and Kim, on an investigation into deceit and murder.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If the initials CD bring to mind a dog obedience title rather than audio merchandise or a financial investment, you may well be one of Conant's ( Paws Before Dying ) fans--or one of her canine-obsessed characters. Heroine Holly Winter of Cambridge, Mass., spends her time training her two copiously described Alaskan malamutes, enjoying a courtship with a veterinarian, contributing to dog-lovers' magazines and solving mysteries. In this latest outing, well-regarded veterinarian Oscar Patterson has vanished. Holly's hackles rise as she sniffs out a few suspects, among them a client whose dog died in Patterson's care and an unprincipled trainer whom Patterson had rebuked. As in Conant's other books, mystery takes a distant second to details of doggiedom: the author recommends wholesalers of pet supplies, comments on the terrier personality, advises how best to get a rare breed recognized by the American Kennel Club, and so forth. Conant infuses her writing with a healthy dose of humor about Holly's Fido-loving friends and other Cambridge cliques; the target of her considerable wit clearly emerges as human nature.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The first hardcover Conant mystery, custom-groomed for dog people, whose devotion to the canine goes beyond that of mere dog lovers--dog people are those ``who can discuss impacted anal sacs [at a party] without gagging on their Brie.'' The sleuth here is Holly Winter, in a mystery plot one shouldn't worry too much about. It concerns the disappearance of Dr. Oscar Patterson, DVM, who had recommended vet Lee Miner to Holly's vet/inamorato Steve Delaney as a partner in his clinic. It was Dr. Miner (a cold dish of Iams) who'd heard a row between Dr. Paterson and an owner whose dog had just died in the small hours. Is Oscar dead? And where is Jackie Miner, Lee's wife? Featured here is a rare breed, the Chinook, related to the malamute, Holly's chosen breed. The mystery itself wobbles here and there, but the Cambridge, Mass., setting is fun (Harvard at Christmas with super-pipes ``with a range of three notes'' and Morris dances), and the dog talk for the hard-core dog crowd is fine. Come. Sit. Stay. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 215 pages
  • Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (June 1, 1992)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385423780
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385423786
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,371,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars More Dog then Mystery but in this case that's ok, May 19, 2000
"Gone to the Dogs" is the 5th installment in the Holly Winter Mystery Saga, but the first with a new publisher. I like what this publishing change has done for the quality of these books. Conant, always a good writer, has expanded her typical story length by a good hundred pages. This allows her to fill her stories out a little more making the pace and flow of the plotting better.

Diehard mystery fans might be disappointed with the level of mystery in these books. There is a mystery but it isn't that intricate, nor is it approached like a typical mystery novel.

The strength of these books is the information, research, and history given of dogs and show events. When I started this series I never though a dog mystery could be interesting in any way. But like any good author, Conant is able to fuel her passion into her writing getting you caught up in the enthusiasm. I've learned a lot about dogs reading these books, and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Oh where, oh where did my little vet go?, July 11, 2003
The 5th book in the Dog Lover's mystery series follows Holly Winter, dog lover/owner, on her next case. It seems that Holly and her two Malamutes, Kimi and Rowdy, are always finding themselves in the middle of investigations! This case involves missing vet, Oscar Patterson, and Holly cannot seem to let the mystery go. She asks mutual friends for information regarding the vet, and soon learns that another acquaintance has vanished, supposedly with the vet. Have these two run off together or was it murder? Can Holly and her two canine companions solve this case?

I have enjoyed the four previous books in the series and was a bit surprised by this installment. The author has signed with a new publisher, and I noticed right away that this book was much longer than the previous four. Even though her books were always pretty cerebral, this one seemed much more so to me. I enjoy the fact that I have to "think" I bit more when I am reading Conant's books, but at times I found the storyline a bit hard to follow. However, I love all of the aspects involving the dogs, and I believe that these books offer a wealth of information regarding dogs. As the author has done in the past, in this book she focuses on one topic of pet ownership that she feels strongly about. In this book, the author speaks strongly about harsh training methods, and the "unprofessional" trainers that practice them. If you are interested in dogs and like mysteries (albeit not the "simple" variety) this is a good series for you!

The first book in this series is "Paws Before Dying". Enjoy!

A Cozy Lover

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best books in the series, February 26, 2007
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if not the best. Also as someone pointed out, a great Christmas mystery. Conant writes about dogs with love. About people less so. But this is a satisfying mystery, both for dog lovers and mystery lovers in general. Cozy mysteries don't get much better than this.
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