Win, Place...Or Die.
The apparent heart attack that killed kennel owner Max Turnbull has left seven pups in mourning, and his wife Peg suspecting foul play. But the only evidence is their missing prize pooch--a pedigreed poodle named Beau.
Enter Melanie Travis. With her young son happily ensconced in day damp, the thirty-something teacher and single mother is talked into investigating her uncle's death--unofficially, of course. Posing as a poodle breeder in search of the perfect stud, Melanie hounds Connecticut's elite canine competitions, and finds an ally in fellow breeder Sam Driver. But her affection cools when she's put on the scent of Sam's questionable past...and hot on the trail of a poodle-hating neighbor and one elusive murderer who isn't ready to come to heel.
For, as Melanie soon discovers, in a championship dog-eat-dog world, the instinct for survival, and winning, can prove fatal.
Laurien started writing romance novels on 1983 as Laurien Blair, she continued signing romances as Laurien Berenson, and now, she writes mystery novels. She’s most noted for her Melanie Travis series of murder mysteries based on school teacher Melanie Travis who owns and shows full size pedigree Standard Poodles. She is a winner of the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, four time winner of the Maxwell Award, presented by the Dog Writers Association of America and an Agatha and Macavity Nominee.
Laurien and her husband live on a farm in Kentucky surrounded by her beloved dogs and horses.
