A Bite of Death

Having read the entire "The Cat Who . . . ." series, I was thrilled to find the dog's lovers answer written by Susan Conant. "A Bite of Death" is the third book in this series. Rowdy & Kimi are still delighting readers with their antics as dog detectives. Holly Winter is continuing on with her sleuting. Wonderful mystery entertainment.

I love this series, and the heroine's take on dogs and living with dogs is right on! Holly Winter compares everything to life in a dog's world, and it's surprising how it parallels human instances. I really am enjoying this series, and the mysteries aren't bad either. There is a little bit of "shock value" in each one. This particular book deals with psycho therapists and their lives with their clients. I really like Holly too. She's a straight-shooter who doesn't let anything phaze her. Great little series.

Susan Conant's dog lovers' mysteries are pretty universally good reads, and this one is no exception. The side issues in the books start getting heavier as the series goes on (Women's lib here, Environmentalism, Institutionalized animal abuse in other books), but rarely get so heavy as to overshadow the book - probably because they're introduced as situations and actions rather than as preaching. Rowdy and Kimi are delightful, and if you like dogs at all, this series is well worth looking at.

I thought Susan Conant had a couple of children- but her breastfeeding bits in this one were a bit off the mark. Breastfeeding is one word, lots of two year olds breastfeed, and some do it a lot, some of their older siblings are still nurslings too, and thousands of women take Prozac or other SSRI's while nursing- see Tom Hale's "Medications in Mother's Milk" to see which is best (Prozac isn't it, but he still doesn't nix nursing for Prozac using moms.) OK- that picks nits, or fur, whichever you prefer. :-O The introduction of Kimi was wonderful in this installment, and the characters were well drawn, as usual. The plot was nice, and even though the villan was easily pegged, there were some nice twists and turns along the way to the final conclusion, if there was such a conclusion. I appreciate that Holly speaks the language of dogs; that was a nice touch.Every time I read one of her mysteries, I wonder if my Siberian/Samoyd mix is still young enough to get her C.D. and I think about the day I can get another Alaskan Malemute and work on his (or her) C.D. I guess I like a challenge.

Ms. Conant has deliveres so many quality mysteries with dogs as a key player. I have read them all and this is one of my faves. Well worth the read!