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Unleashed |
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 Unleashed byLaurien Berenson Kensington 297 pages, September 2000 ISBN 1575665964 Reviewed by Susan McBride Read our review of Hush Puppy Read our author interview Unleashed is the seventh book in the Melanie Travis Mystery Series, set in and around the world of dog shows. Its predecessor Hush Puppy recently won a Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Amateur Sleuth Novel from Romantic Times Magazine. Being a cat lover, I wasn’t sure how I’d respond to tales of canine crime, but I’m impressed with Berenson’s solid writing style and the emotional stakes she sets up for her protagonist. In Unleashed, the ex-wife of Melanie’s fiancé Sam is still hanging around, as she was in Hush Puppy. Sheila Vaughn has started up a tell-all magazine to expose sordid goings-on in the dog show world. Called Woof! it seems destined to make Sheila even more enemies. Melanie can only hope that Sheila’s project will fail and that she’ll leave Connecticut with her tail between her legs, instead of trying to woo back Sam. After all, Sam kept his marriage to Sheila a secret, only admitting the union to Melanie when the beans had already been spilled. To make matters worse, Sheila’s co-sponsor for the magazine is a man named Brian Endicott, a former friend from Sam and Sheila’s past. The story goes that Sam stole away Sheila from Brian, but Melanie figures there’s much more involved. Only Sam’s not talking. Then Sheila ends up dead under suspicious circumstances, and Sam appears far more shaken by her death than Melanie can comprehend. She’s even more baffled when Sam asks her to look into the situation, whereas he’d never liked her playing Nancy Drew before, and soon after takes off to be with Sheila’s family and to attend her funeral in Illinois. Left behind to sort out the mess, Melanie starts poking around at the magazine and finds there was plenty of animosity between Sheila and her small staff. In addition, Brian Endicott is hardly broken up by the loss of his partner and lover, and the targets of her yellow journalism are clearly relieved. So whodunit? In between keeping an eye on her very pregnant prized Standard Poodle Faith, Melanie does some delicate detecting that would rival any dog act in the show ring. A kinder, gentler snoop you couldn’t possibly find. In Unleashed, Berenson again concocts a cozy worthy of a blue ribbon. |
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