Scent of Danger: A Dale Kinsall Mystery

Far more delightful than any cookie cutter mystery, Scent of Danger has exquisitely well drawn characters, an amazing understanding of dogs, and a hint of romance. Harassed with a barrage of threatening notes, Dale Kinsall, a veterinarian, enlists the aid of his beagle and his Dineh girlfriend to help find the source. It isn't long before Dale begins to worry that there might be a link between the notes and a frightening outbreak of the deadly hanta virus. When Dale finds himself in a bind, Sherri, his office manager with a day-glo fashion sense, Mailman Hank and his overweight "temper with teeth" dog, and the women's kaffeeklatsch which gathers every day to get a glimpse of "Mr. Dr. Dale," are all too ready to help. Through the twists and turns of the intriguing plot, the reader discovers that this mystery is as much about how-dunit and why-dunit as whodunit. Durgin keeps you on the edge of your seat with tight plotting and a wicked sense of humor until the very last page.

I got this book for my mom. As soon as it came in the mail she read it and then shared it with me. The story is great, the little points of view from the dog added a wonderful touch. I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out.

It's a mystery. It's got a beagle. It's by Doranna Durgin. What more could you want? What, you want more information? Oh, fine. Here's the thing, though. I don't normally get into a lot of the things that other reviewers do, like plot and whether the mystery is hard or easy to figure out. My reading tastes generally depend on other things. What's most important to me is whether the characters come alive, whether the writing (I mean the actual use of language to convey the story) is good, whether the pacing keeps me reading, and then, further down the list, whether I liked the plot. Generally, if I liked all the other things, I'm going to be just fine with the plot, as long as it isn't ridiculous, because it's those other things that make the plot interesting to me. (As long as there *is* a plot, I mean. I'm not a fan of pure "character study" books. Besides, Harriet already did the plot thing.) This is why I'm a fan of Durgin's writing. Her characters and writing always sparkle, right there on the page. You could practically read the book in the dark, by the light of the sparkle. You can just see the characters doing the things they're doing, they remind you of people you know, they seem like real people. And not just the main characters... ALL the characters are tended to. They're not just cardboard cut-outs for the author to move around to get the main characters into and out of trouble. And you *care* about what they're doing, and what happens to them, which is where the whole "plot" thing comes in. So, on the plot: I see that Dale and Sully, characters first met and loved in Five Star First Edition Mystery - Nose For Trouble really are in trouble this time, and Dale's hopefully-romantic-interest and fellow veterinarian Laura is right there with them. A reviewer said the mystery was "thin" but I didn't think so. If anything, it's more layered than the mystery in Nose for Trouble. There's more than one thing going on here, and the unraveling of the tangle by Dale (with a big assist from The Beagley One, Sully) was satisfying. The progress of the romance was... well, I'm still hoping for more! But, maybe the next book...?

Former Buckeye, Dr. Dale Kinsall is still adjusting to life in West Winoza, just outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. He finds his staff at the Foothills Veterinary Clinic professional but eccentrically amusing except when they wear animal scrotums as earrings; that sort of feels painful. He also is half in love with another veterinarian Laura Nakai who he hoped would join his practice, but did not. As the clinic is being renovated and Dale semi exiled due to asthma, he begins receiving weird warning notes written in rhyme, but placed in such away that someone with full clinic access was dropping them off. Laura becomes concerned when her young second cousin becomes deathly ill from hanta fever. As the notes keep coming, Dale and his sidekick Sully the mouse eating Beagle work on the case of the notes even as he saves Laura's life when she comes down with hanta fever. Although the mystery is thin and comes late, fans will enjoy this fun Arizona cozy due to the eccentric cast. Fans will be fascinated that Dale is in the local police dog house for solving a recent case (see NOSE FOR TROUBLE) instead of them. The support cast adds to the character driven plot as Dale with Sully follow the SCENT OF DANGER. Harriet Klausner