Hair of the Dog

A Melanie Travis Mystery

By: Laurien Berenson

Narrated by: Jessica Almasy

Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The dog days of summer have just begun, and Melanie Travis is looking forward to savoring each lazy afternoon. And where better to enjoy herself than at her Aunt Peg's Fourth of July barbeque? It sounds ideal, until an uninvited guest proves that even the laziest dog day of the year can suddenly turn vicious.

Melanie knew someone should have kept Barry Turk on a short leash. The star Poodle handler and lady killer had a habit of chicanery that bred contempt in the dog show circuit. But when Barry is shot dead in his own driveway, even Melanie is stunned at how unsporting the competition can get. Now, as Melanie digs for clues deep under Connecticut's well-groomed surface, she finds herself sniffing around in the killer's own backyard, and counts herself lucky to have the animal instincts to keep herself alive.

©1997 Laurien Berenson (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"A well-paced and well-organized story, a surprise ending, and an ability to capture the great bond between dogs and people." (Booklist )

Abundant with dog lore, this lighthearted adventure will charm dog fanciers and cozy fans." (Publishers Weekly)

surprise

did not see the end coming. This book was a little confusing to me. A lot of characters so it was hard to track, at least for me. I might listen to it again. I did like it.

Enjoyed, not as much

Enjoyable to listen to fill in the time. I am getting used to the performance, although if fast presenters bothers you, you will be annoyed.

Characters are likeable, Aunt Peg still makes me smile and laugh. This book is not my favorite in the series, too rushed and a bit of a struggle in the beginning to listen. Some better character development towards the end. Overall, I would recommend and I will take a small break and continue the rest of the series. This is my second free mystery series with Audible and I am really glad they offer. Happy listening.

Average

I love the author! I’m not liking the voice of the reader. The pitch is high and irritating, especially Aunt Peg’s stilted accent ( who I really do not like anyway ). Less of her the better. I like the other characters and they are well rounded and interesting.

Entertaining, but had to check my play speed

The reader has a nice voice and does a good job at voicing different characters, but I had to double-check to see if my speed was set at 1.5! She sounds like she's on warp drive.

It was disconcerting and a little distracting, but I did enjoy the book in spite of it.

I've read several of the books in this series, this was the first I've listened to. They're well-written cozies with a like able cast of characters.

Talks too fast

Story was read entirely TOO FAST for my liking! Felt rushed. Not enjoyable 😒.

Narrator needs to slow down but fun story

Really enjoyed the story as I love poodles and cozy mysteries. Together they are a win. The narrator would be fine if she’d slow down to normal speaking speed.

Light and entertaining

This is another light an entertaining mystery with Melanie Travis. She continues to show dogs and solve mysteries. Very enjoyable

Hair of the dog

I love this series...not only do I get to try to solve a murder mystery, I get to read about my favorite subject...dogs.

Repetitive

I love the characters but plots and storylines are getting repetitive. The books are starting to get boring.

A good cozy, but...

I gradually became very weary of the series’s spoiled, disrespectful son—especially with the mother having a Master’s in childhood education. I was a single mother to a son and was never confronted with him yelling at me, much less obligingly condoning it.
Very good narration, and author’s subject knowledge showed good research and her explanations were well done; together with a little bit of twisting plots they made for a decent listen.