Jingle Bell Bark: A Melanie Travis Mystery [Paperback]

Laurien Berenson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Laurien Berenson is author of the delightful Melanie Travis canine cozy mystery series, including Jingle Bell Bark and Best in Show. She has a degree in psychology from Vassar College and has been married for almost twenty-five years. She lives in Georgia with her husband, her son, six dogs, and two Welsh ponies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (October 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157566786X
• ISBN-13: 978-1575667867
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #234,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected, January 10, 2008

By 

Charles Bradley (Acton , MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jingle Bell Bark: A Melanie Travis Mystery (Paperback)

Ho, hum. Another unmarried female amateur detective with a hobby or job I'm going to
hear all about and a kid I can watch grow up because it's a series mystery. Well,
it's better than I expected.

I came in at number 11 of the series, but it was good enough that I'll hunt down
earlier volumes and perhaps read the whole series. It was good enough for two or three
more per year, but not good enough to tackle them one right after another. The mystery
part was fairly weak, but the characters were interesting. I found myself not wondering
"who dunit?" but rather "what will so-and-so do next?"

The dog and dog show portion of the story was also interesting. I like dogs but not dog
shows and I found the dog show and preparation scenes interesting. When the investigator
is a cook, I try some of the recipes, but I can not tell you if the dog tips are good or not.

There is a fair amount of humor here; not the laugh out loud kind, but rather the smile or
chuckle kind. The humor is about the interactions of the characters and the business or
busyness of living. I expect there will be similar smiles in the other books of the series,
rather than the same jokes repeated each time.

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's hear it for the Dogs., December 11, 2011

By 

Amy "Brave Warrior" (Alabama, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Jingle Bell Bark: A Melanie Travis Mystery (Paperback)

PB/mystery: I needed something to get me in the holiday mood; why not murder? This is book 11 in the Melanie Travis series and my first read of the story. I did not have a problem understanding the who, what, where. I will start by telling you that I am not only a dog person, but a believer in animal shelter dogs. I think breeding dogs for pets is ridiculous.
That being said, I really liked the book. I like the heroine; she is a bit of a slacker mom who believes in spending time with her kid over cleaning the house. The whole mystery probably would have taken only 50 pages to tell, but the author mixes family and business in with the mystery. Two thumbs up.

4.0 out of 5 stars A light and fluffy mystery in the best Melanie Travis tradition, January 27, 2009

By 

Naor Wallach (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jingle Bell Bark: A Melanie Travis Mystery (Paperback)

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a time when normal people are getting ready for the holidays; decorate their houses; bring in the tree; do their shopping; and in general engage in all kinds of fun activities. In the case of Melanie Travis and her world, this is also a time to solve murder mysteries!

In this case, it is really not her fault. First of all, all she notices is that her son's school bus driver is replaced with a surly teenager and then she finds out that he died. It's only later that she discovers that he was murdered. And even then, she is not really involved until her Aunt Peg gets her deeply involved in investigating the murder. Would it surprise anyone who reads this series to learn that the bus driver is a dog lover and that Melanie's involvement owes as much to the dogs as anything else?

In addition to the murder mystery, there is the normal advancement of the Travis story with developments in her relationship with Sam Driver (now, again, her fiancée); her ex-husband, Bob; her aunt; and her sister in law - Bertie - and their brand new baby girl. We also follow her dog show participation as she gets closer to having Faith established as a champion.

All those are fun and good reasons for reading the mystery, but how good was they mystery? Well, I can tell you that I was not sure of whom the murderer was until they revealed themselves. And only then did I realize that the author left a great, big, juicy, clue right there in plain sight that I should have picked up on immediately. In other words, this was a very enjoyable book and one that makes for great beach or airplane reading. Recommended!