Dog Eat Dog A Melanie Travis Mystery

"It has been five years since Bob left Melanie Travis. His walking out forced Melanie to single handily cope with raising their son Davey, a job she feels that she has done reasonably well. Besides caring for her child, Melanie has forged a relationship with her feisty dog breeding Aunt Peg and tentatively has embarked upon a romantic relationship with fellow dog fancier Sam Draper. Her hobby is to simply ferret out criminals. Melanie lives a full, satisfying life that she believes is a good role model for the woman of the nineties. Her complacency is abruptly shattered when her ex-husband suddenly waltzes back into her life. He wants to become acquainted with the son he abandoned. Bob makes noises about filing for joint custody. On the surface, Melanie appears to be handling Bob’s threat very calmly. However, inside she is a bundle of nerves, doubts, and insecurities. Luckily for her, she has another murder to investigate. This helps keep her mind off her domestic difficulties. When a member of a kennel club is killed while attending a monthly meeting, there are many suspects capable of committing the deed, especially since the victim was blackmailing many of the members. With so many suspects having a motive, Melanie has to work harder than ever to uncover the identity of the guilty person. This seems to be a piece of cake when compared to silently watching her son draw closer to his father. Laurien Berenson writes a terrific mystery that incorporates a who-done-it into a family drama. This gives 'Dog Eat Dog' a cross-over appeal that will entice mainstream readers. There are enough red herrings and plausible suspects to maintain reader interest from first page to last. Additionally, recurring characters from the previous two works in this series ('Underdog' and 'A Pedigree To Die For') set up a feeling of homecoming and warmth. This leaves the audience avidly awaiting the next installment in this wonderful series.Berenson, Laurien is the author of 'Dog Eat Dog A Melanie Travis Mystery' with ISBN 9781575662275 and ISBN 1575662272.