Being the avid dog and mystery lover I (Rob) am, I recently finished my third book in the Melanie Travis mystery series called "Jingle Bell Bark" by Laurien Berenson. I enjoy this series and the characters in the book, especially because the lead character, Melanie is a dog parent (who just gets involved in murders and helps solve them). She has great supporting characters like her Aunt Peg who has a kennel and also shows standard Poodles in competition. Melanie is a single mom with a 3rd grade son, ex-husband that comes around, a boyfriend, and others. This mystery takes place around christmastime, but really has nothing to do with the holidays (that's just a background to the story). Instead it involves a mystery of why Melanie's son's bus driver doesn't show up for work one day.
The book is pretty fast-paced and you really want to get to the end to find out who the murderer is in the story. It has some twists in it, and a surprise ending. It was another enjoyable mystery in the series. - Rob
BOOK SUMMARY: It's Christmas again, and Melanie Travis barely has time to pencil in some holiday festivities. Especially once she finds herself making a list of murder suspects--and checking it twice. . .
This year, all Melanie wants for Christmas is a dull moment. Between her son Davey, her teaching job, and showing her Standard Poodle puppy, Eve, there just aren't enough hours in the day. But when Davey's usual bus driver, Henry Pruitt, disappears and is replaced by a surly, pierced, twentysomething, Melanie is concerned. The elderly, amiable Henry was a friend to all in the neighborhood, so she decides to check on him. . .only to find that he died two days earlier, under suspicious circumstances.
As if that weren't bad enough, Henry's two Golden Retrievers are now bereft of both master and home. Melanie can't just abandon them, so she brings them to her Aunt Peg, the most stubborn woman on the planet, who's now determined to find out the truth about Henry's death, no matter what it takes. Soon, the indomitable Aunt Peg has Melanie leashed to another murder investigation. And unless she sniffs out this Scrooge of a killer fast, a lump of coal in her stocking may not be the worst thing Melanie gets this Christmas. .
