Murder at the Puppy Fest

Melanie Travis Mystery Series, Book 20

By: Laurien Berenson

Narrated by: Angie Hickman

Frolicking with dogs is Melanie Travis's idea of heaven. So when she's invited to be a "puppy wrangler" at a benefit for a local dog rescue, the last thing she expects is to be chasing after a tricky killer....

Busy mom and pedigree Standard Poodle owner, Melanie Travis doesn't mind helping out at Puppy Fest, an annual fundraiser to benefit a local dog rescue. Considering the venue - Belle Haven mansion, owned by wealthy philanthropist Leo Brody - it's shaping up to be the can't-miss charity event of the summer. Unfortunately, when Melanie's breeding background lands her in the doghouse with Jane, Leo's snappy daughter who runs the rescue, Melanie finds herself simultaneously managing Puppy Fest and the millionaire's hopelessly fractious family.

But once Puppy Fest kicks off, Leo is nowhere to be found - until Melanie discovers his current mistress crouching over his dead body. According to police, the father's severe nut allergy went into overdrive after he accidentally consumed a contaminated cookie. However, Libby, one of Leo's children and a friend of Melanie's Aunt Peg, believes someone deliberately put him down for good....

©2017 Laurien Berenson (P)2021 Tantor

skips

struggled finishing this book
it skipped alot
narrator sounds like a computer voice at least 2/3's of the time

5 stars

I love this series and I'm happy that it's finally in the Audible catalog. I hope the rest of the books will be available soon.

enjoyed

The killers were a suprise. I was a little disappointed that they were not held responsible for their crimes.

Dogs and cozy murder mystery!

If you love, DOGS and enjoy fairly clean, but suspenseful murder mysteries, Laurien Berenson is the author for you!! I purchased about 20 of these audiobooks. I read all of them several years ago in print and was so blessed to catch a really great sale in Audible. The primary characters of. Melanie Travis and her toddler Davey are the primary characters at the start in the very first book. Melanie’s aunt Peg is the one that has the Standard Poodles. By the time you get to this book, Aunt Peg has has nurtured and mentored, Melanie and Davey into the world of confirmation.
I can honestly say what I enjoyed. The most was that all of Bernstein‘s books actually feature the dogs in them and the stories about the dogs lives and the peoples lives and the murder mystery. As opposed to lots of other, I guess imitators who have a picture of dogs on the front of their cover and then include DOGS in the title but when you read the whole book , the dog is only mentioned two or three times when they have been fed or walked. These books in this whole series, Are really, and truly based on DOGS and the families with them and the murders that Melanie solves I found that I actually learned a good deal about dog shows from these books as the author herself was involved with the sport of purebred dogs and showed her miniature poodles in real life. The author does a fabulous job of developing characters and their changing lives as the years go by in the story lines that they almost feel like the real people. And in defense of kennel, clubs, and the sport of purebred dogs these books give you a great view of many wonderful people that are involved in conformation; how much love and attention and dedication goes into training a dog for the conformation ring as well as companion sports of Obedience, and Agility… I wholeheartedly, recommend all of Laurien Berenson‘s books if you are a dog person!!!

Not author’s best in the series

I generally love the Melanie Travis books but this is not one of the better ones. I thought there were parts of the story that were underdeveloped, and some that seemed to me a non sequitur leading to a rather abrupt ending that feels like there should have been more. Enjoyable, but not great. .