A Pedigree to Die for

As a dog lover and fan of cozy mysteries, this first installment in the Melanie Travis series caught my attention. And it had me turning page after page!!! "A Pedigree to Die For" has single mom Melanie and her poodle-breeding (and kinda stuffy) Aunt Peg in pursuit of the person responsible for murder and dog-napping (not sure which took more precedence). The book untangled some of the intricacies about dog shows and the people who are addicted to them. Melanie is a very real, modern-day mom who juggles sleuthing with the needs of her five-year old son. Her character is like Goldy Schultz in Diane Mott Davidson's series (another winner, in my "book"), far more interesting than Joanne Fluke's or Mary Daheim's cast, and just a couple of notches below Janet Evanovich's inimitable Stephanie Plum. And THAT's saying something! I'm so excited that this series has so many books. I'm going to unleash myself on them......

I checked this book out of the local branch library. When I first started reading it, I was lukewarm about it and thinking I would return it (I don't feel I have to finish something I am reading for fun if it isn't fun!). One night, I decided to give it a second chance. I ended up really enjoying it once I got past the first chapter. Now I am hunting down the rest of the series.Melanie's husband left her when her son was 10 months old. She's been supporting herself and her son ever since. She's wary of men (her most recent lover just took off to Las Vegas and married a show girl), short on money, trying to be a good mom to her son, and doesn't get along with her relatives. In this book, her Uncle Max dies and his favorite stud dog is stolen. Melanie's forceful Aunt Peg convinces her to help her find the missing stud dog (actually, she wanted Melanie's feckless brother to do it but he declines). Along the way, Melanie learns about showing dogs, how her parents really died, and draws slightly closer to her remaining relatives. And her Aunt Peg fixes her up with a "stud"--a Mel Gibson look-alike.I read some of the reviews of her other books and one reviewer complained because Melanie's son is dragged into the story and he whines alot. Don't listen to that reviewer unless you hate kids. Yes, Melanie's son is in all of the books in the series. She's a single mother! Of course he's going to be mentioned a lot. I have a son who is older now but Ms. Berenson is aptly descriptive of parenthood--the good and the bad.I really like the way the series develops. I enjoy the characters of her Aunt Peg, her Aunt Rose, and her feckless brother Frank. As the series continues, more of the personality of these relatives is developed. It's like having your own less than perfect relatives drop in to cause problems. Lastly, I'm a cat person, not a dog person. However, I have noticed the dog based mysteries are better than the cat based ones. The characters in Lillian Jackson Braun's "cat who" series are so shallow compared to Ms. Berenson's characters.

I was getting really board in our local lib. and then I suddenly remembered a review on L.B. and decided to cheack out A Ped. and ever since I've collected the Mel. Travis series.

What a wonderful refreshing book. Kept me in my chair until I finished

I picked up this book as a gift for my wife and made the mistake of reading the first few pages - I was hooked. Ms. Berenson writes an excellent mystery and has Standard Poodles and Poodle breeders down to a tee. This book is a good read for anyone but if you've been owed by or known a Standard Poodles you're in for a real treat.