Paws before Dying (Dog Lover's Mystery, Book 4) [Paperback]

Susan Conant (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 197 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (January 1, 1960)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425144305
• ISBN-13: 978-0425144305
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,317,890 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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cousin Leah Comes to Town, June 9, 2003

By 

L Smith "acozylover" (Macomb, MI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Paws Before Dying (Paperback)

Holly Winter is at it again in the 4th book in the Dog Lover's Mystery series. Holly's cousin (or niece as she is sometimes called) comes to visit her for the summer, and takes over the training and trials of Kimi, the female Malamute. During her visit, a well-known retired teacher and fellow dog trial competitor gets electrocuted while working her poodle at night. At first it appears to be an accident, but when Holly starts digging, she learns that a lot of people had reasons to want this competitor out of the ring. Most of the characters (Steve, Rita, and Kevin in a very small part of the action) have returned but dearly missing in this book is Buck, Holly's father.

Overall, this book was a great addition to the series. Sometimes the book gets a bit too cerebral (especially in the dialogue with Kevin) but it is still a great read. The author chooses this book to take a stand on electronic collars (a.k.a shock collars), as she has with other topics in previous books. I would recommend this book as a part of the series.

The first book in this series is "A New Leash on Death". Enjoy!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tops for dog lovers., September 13, 2006

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paws before Dying (Dog Lover's Mystery, Book 4) (Paperback)

This series is a wonderful series for those who love dogs and love to read mysteries. I happen to be one of those people. I don't have Malamutes, but I have two dogs - a Rottweiler and a Belgian Shepherd, and believe me I often see my dogs in things that Kimi and Rowdy do. I also like the series because Ms. Conant relates everything to dogs and to dog training. It is remarkable how valid this. In this book we also get a new character in Holly's young cousin Leah. I think we'll be seeing more of her. The book is about a murder that was at first not thought to be a murder, but Holly senses that someone did her friend Rose in. In her quest to find answers she runs across a truly disfunctional family. Trying to make sense of this family by comparing it to the dog world actually works for her, and she does manage to figure it out in the end. I'm lookimg forward to the next book now.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rowdy & Kimi at their best (& people of course!), April 21, 1998

By 

KitchenSharkMama "MicahBina" (NC,, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paws Before Dying (Paperback)

Ms. Conant once again uses her ingenuity to solve yet another murder...with her walking advertisments for Eukanuba dog food! This is an interesting book with lots of depth. For mystery and critter lovers alike!