Once Bitten

A Melanie Travis Mystery

By: Laurien Berenson

Narrated by: Jessica Almasy

With her former fiancé off finding himself, Melanie Travis figures the only ring she'll be seeing in the near future is one where she's showing her prized poodles. But love is still in the air for her brother Frank, who is about to tie the knot with his sweetheart, Bertie Kennedy. With scant knowledge of tulle, favors, or cocktail hors d'oeuvres, Melanie happily leaves the nuptial arrangements to Sara Bentley, a fellow dog handler moonlighting as a wedding coordinator. But when Sara suddenly vanishes, a panicked Bertie gives Melanie a choice: either pinch-hit for Sara - or find out where she is. Opting for the latter, Melanie begins sniffing around into Sara's past - and unearths big trouble when Sara's cottage burns to the ground and a woman's body is found in the rubble.

There are plenty of people with grudges against Sara - from Maris Kincaid, a disgruntled dog groomer; to Debra Silver, a competitor whose dog had been poisoned a decade ago; to Josh Bennett, her embittered ex-boyfriend. Even Sara's own family seems oddly unconcerned about her disappearance... but are the blue-blooded Bentleys cold-blooded enough to kill one of their own? Melanie soon realizes that despite the best-laid plans, anything can happen. And when it comes to Sara Bentley, nothing is certain - except that it's up to Melanie to stop a murderer in his - or her - tracks...

©2001 Laurien Berenson (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"An entertaining mystery." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Totally satisfying." (I Love A Mystery)

Very Entertaining

This is a very well written and entertaining book. I love the development of Melanie's character. I can't wait for the next book.

Enjoy all the book so far

I love dogs so this was a good choice to start with but with a touch of romance and mystery also it was a great choice. Love it all so far will read the rest of them intill I have to pay for them, don't have the money so I will have to wait for credits.

Fav of the series! (so far)

Loved this one so much. And it's not the mystery plot but the underlying plot of Melanie, Bob & Sam.

best ever

I thought I had it figured out. not a chance. I was wrong again. The author leads you off in one direction and then wham the person who committed the murder or murders is a complete surprise. Darn there was a hint early on.

Best so far

Just wish there was a different narrator. The series has been so good so far though I've had to suffer through the sound. ( Why doesn't the author like Malteses :(

Is Aunt Peg the Queen of England?

I like this series of books by Laurien Berenson and this is the first one I listened to rather than read myself. The stories are good and entertaining so it's the narrated version I have a problem with as the narrator goes a bit fast and I have to work the keep up with who is saying what line. Worse than that is the voice of Aunt Peg, the most colorful character in the series. Her character is read with a thick, haughty British accent that sometimes begins to sound like she's also a Valley Girl. So far in any of the books I've read Aunt Peg was neither described as being British royalty or as a ditzy girl from San Fernando Valley. The way Aunt Peg's character is being read really sounds utterly ridiculous.

What’s with the speed?

Not sure if this a production issue or the performer.... but she sounds like she is speed reading. It loses so much! I have to slow to 0.8X speed just to have some “normal” feel to it.

Good book, horrible narration

Liked the book so I had to give the audio book a second chance. was as bad as the first time would love to hear it read by the likes of Kate forbes, cherry jones, tom stechschulte, .