Hounded To Death (Melanie Travis Mysteries) [Paperback]

Laurien Berenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2008 | Series: Melanie Travis Mysteries

As the dog days of summer turn to the playful nip of autumn's chill, Melanie Travis is ready for a little relaxation. Her Aunt Peg has the perfect solution - a five-day symposium for dog show judges in Pennsylvania's idyllic Pocono Mountains. While Peg and Melanie's sister-in-law Bertie welcome the opportunity to socialize with the dog world's elite, the very pregnant Melanie embraces the chance to simply unwind. But when renowned judge Charles Evans delivers a keynote address that irritates many of the attendees, the symposium's agenda takes a deadly turn. For later that evening, Charles is found floating face-down in the outdoor hot tub.With few clues to go on, the police are baffled. But Melanie decides to take matters into her own hands, suspecting that a cold-blooded murderer may lurk among her fellow dog-lovers...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dog show enthusiast Melanie Travis, starring in her perky 14th whodunit (after 2006's Chow Down), puts her four-months-pregnant self into the back of a minivan and heads off to a canine judging symposium in the Poconos with her sister-in-law, Bertie, a professional dog handler, and Aunt Peg, a respected judge of poodles. The three expect a relaxing vacation, but a few hours after keynote speaker Charles Evans shocks his audience by announcing that dog shows are unethical, Melanie and Co. discover Evans dead in the hotel hot tub. Was he offed by an angry judge, or did his wife finally decide that his countless affairs were intolerable? Sleuthing isn't the only thing occupying Melanie—she's also busy looking out for her 60-something aunt, who's pursuing romance with a younger man she met over the Internet. Berenson refrains from overloading the mystery with too many dog details, and though a few character development devices never get off the ground, this canine cozy is still absorbing enough to delight even cat lovers. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"* "This canine cosy is absorbing enough to delight even cat lovers" - Publishers Weekly"

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Kensington; Reprint edition (August 5, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075821605x
• ISBN-13: 978-0758216052
• ASIN: 075821605X
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A doggone good mystery, September 6, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hounded To Death (Melanie Travis Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Hounded to Death is the fourteenth in the Melanie Travis series by poodle owner Berenson.

Melanie, her Aunt Peg (a dog show judge), and her sister-in-law Bertie all travel to a five-day-long symposium in the mountains of Pennsylvania that is about everything to do with judging dogs. Peg drops a bomb while they are on the road: she is going to meet a man she met on the Internet, another dog show judge, for the first time.

The reception holds a few surprises: Richard, the Internet interest, has come with his mother, also a judge; he travels with her everywhere. His mother, Florence, has decided opinions on her son's welfare, and Peg is not judged to be good enough for him. While taking a walk, Melanie meets a scared and thin German shepherd, and after telling her Aunt Peg and Bertie, they decide to go out that night and try to find him. Instead they discover keynote speaker Charles Evans dead, face down and naked in the hot tub!

Charles had stunned the audience a few hours before with his speech about the "future" of dog shows. He was beginning to see the point of view of the animal rights activists who feel that purebred show dogs are genetically manipulated by breeders into parodies of their original uses. Originally dog shows were tests of the dog's function and usefulness. Now they had become, according to Evans, little more than "puppets for human entertainment!" The crowd was astounded that one of their own, a respected handler and judge, had turned his beliefs around so much. Caroline Evans, his wife, also a dog show judge, slipped out of the talk and disappeared.

Alanna Bennet, a beautiful blonde flirt who lives on the fringes of the dog show world and a friend of Bertie's, is not as shocked by the speech as everyone else. Why was Charles naked? Was he meeting someone? There had been talk of a judge asking for bribes. Was this scandal related to his death? And who bops the obnoxious Florence on the head?

Armchair Interviews says: Anyone who loves dogs--and interesting settings and characters--will enjoy this series.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, as usual!, February 4, 2008

By 

Ms. Jessica - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hounded To Death (Melanie Travis Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This series is terrific. The books are so well-written, you will enjoy them even if you are not a dog lover. If you are a dog lover, you will love the author's hilarious insights into dog ownership and dog shows. The characters are hysterical and likeable, the mysteries are well developed, and there is enough "real life" issues to keep the books from being cheesy. You won't be disappointed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great, January 13, 2009

By 

J. Doyle - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hounded To Death (Melanie Travis Mysteries) (Paperback)

I purchased this book as a gift. The recipient is a big fan of mystery books. She loved this one.