From Publishers Weekly
If the initials CD bring to mind a dog obedience title rather than audio merchandise or a financial investment, you may well be one of Conant's ( Paws Before Dying ) fans--or one of her canine-obsessed characters. Heroine Holly Winter of Cambridge, Mass., spends her time training her two copiously described Alaskan malamutes, enjoying a courtship with a veterinarian, contributing to dog-lovers' magazines and solving mysteries. In this latest outing, well-regarded veterinarian Oscar Patterson has vanished. Holly's hackles rise as she sniffs out a few suspects, among them a client whose dog died in Patterson's care and an unprincipled trainer whom Patterson had rebuked. As in Conant's other books, mystery takes a distant second to details of doggiedom: the author recommends wholesalers of pet supplies, comments on the terrier personality, advises how best to get a rare breed recognized by the American Kennel Club, and so forth. Conant infuses her writing with a healthy dose of humor about Holly's Fido-loving friends and other Cambridge cliques; the target of her considerable wit clearly emerges as human nature.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
The first hardcover Conant mystery, custom-groomed for dog people, whose devotion to the canine goes beyond that of mere dog lovers--dog people are those ``who can discuss impacted anal sacs [at a party] without gagging on their Brie.'' The sleuth here is Holly Winter, in a mystery plot one shouldn't worry too much about. It concerns the disappearance of Dr. Oscar Patterson, DVM, who had recommended vet Lee Miner to Holly's vet/inamorato Steve Delaney as a partner in his clinic. It was Dr. Miner (a cold dish of Iams) who'd heard a row between Dr. Paterson and an owner whose dog had just died in the small hours. Is Oscar dead? And where is Jackie Miner, Lee's wife? Featured here is a rare breed, the Chinook, related to the malamute, Holly's chosen breed. The mystery itself wobbles here and there, but the Cambridge, Mass., setting is fun (Harvard at Christmas with super-pipes ``with a range of three notes'' and Morris dances), and the dog talk for the hard-core dog crowd is fine. Come. Sit. Stay. --
Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
