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Best In Show

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
A sleuth must find a killer amid a plethora of poodles in this "charming" cozy mystery by an Agatha Award finalist (Publishers Weekly).

There are dog shows. And then there's The Poodle Club of America National Specialty Dog Show. For poodle purists, it's the pinnacle of the season, drawing competitors and spectators from all over the world.

Once in Maryland, Melanie Travis is put to work selling raffle tickets by the co-chairs of the raffle committee, Betty Jean and Edith Jean Boone. Sixtyish steel magnolias from the South, the reclusive sisters make few appearances. But this year, they have a silver Toy puppy that has already caused quite a buzz on the show circuit.

While the poodles remain well behaved, it's their owners and handlers who start acting up. And when Betty Jean is found dead at the host hotel, murder takes center stage. But this is the PCA—and the show must go on. As Edith Jean staunchly resumes her duties, Melanie starts searching for clues, and comes up with a compelling cast of suspects whose actions prove that in the dog-eat-dog world of showing, a life can be as easily lost as a blue ribbon. And that unlike cats, dogs—and their owners—have only one to risk...

"A dependable author for fans of pooch-oriented mysteries." —Library Journal
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 18, 2003
      This is Agatha and Macavity nominee Berenson's 10th charming canine cozy (after 2002's Hot Dog) to feature Melanie Travis, the poodle breeder and devoted "mom" to black Standards Faith and Eve. Melanie leaves her seven-year-old son, Davey, and dog, Faith, with her ex-husband while she travels with Eve to the Poodle Club of America National Specialty dog show in Maryland. Melanie's Aunt Peg, who runs the show, directs her to work with two eccentric sisters from Georgia who look alike, dress alike and finish each other's sentences "like a pair of bickering bookends." When one of them falls on a hotel porch and is fatally injured, it looks like an accident—at first. For all the engaging human characters, including dog handlers, breeders, show officials, trimmers and owners, the dogs, in all sizes, colors and ages, provide the most fun. Carried along by crisp dialogue, the story occasionally bogs down in "doggy" details, but even the uninitiated should find these interesting and informative. The arrival of Melanie's "almost fiancé" at the end will leave readers hoping that the two will set up dog breeding together by the next book. (Sept. 2)Forecast:With 15 champions to her credit, the author breeds and exhibits Standard and Miniature poodles, doing her own grooming, trimming and handling. Confusion with the 2000 film comedy of the same title can't hurt.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from March 14, 2005
      Readers will hesitate to visit their favorite chain bookstore after finishing this horror tour de force from British author Campbell (The Darkest Part of the Woods
      ). Texts, an American bookseller, has just opened its first U.K. outlet in newly built Fenny Meadows retail park, and manager Woody Blake is struggling to whip the store into shape, despite such perplexing setbacks as computers spitting out flyers with embarrassing typos and books nightly disarranging themselves on the shelves and oozing grubby residues. You might think that something from the boggy terrain was corrupting the store environment—and indeed that's what a local author suggests when he recounts the site's ancient history of draining itself,
      then swallowing up villages built on it. The stage is set for shocking revelations when Woody calls for a work all-nighter and the staff finally see what's patronizing their store after hours. Eldritch horrors are Campbell's forte, and he does a brilliant job of insinuating them into the modern work environment through computers, cell phones and security cameras whose apparent malfunction is an index to the indescribable forces they channel. His rich and evocative prose serves, like the Fenny Meadows fog, to wrap scenes in a dense miasma of disturbing images and shadowy shapes. Nearly plotless, this novel is one of his most sustained exercises in atmosphere and a high water mark of horror. Agent, Kay McCauley. (Apr. 1)

      FYI:
      Campbell has won more than 20 World Fantasy, British Fantasy, Bram Stoker and other major awards.

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