Pumpkin Spice Puppy

A Melanie Travis Canine Mystery

By: Laurien Berenson

Narrated by: Angie Hickman

Between taking care of her family and assorted Standard Poodles, Melanie is also working as a special needs tutor for Howard Academy, a private school in Greenwich, where her younger son attends kindergarten. This year, the headmaster has come up with an idea for a school fundraiser. All students will participate in a town-wide treasure hunt, with grades competing against each other.

Tokens shaped like pumpkin spice muffins have been hidden in downtown stores. Students will scramble to collect as many as they can in exchange for prizes. At first all goes smoothly, and the uptick in foot traffic to the stores is a win-win . . . Until the pet supply shop owner lodges a complaint. When Melanie stops by to smooth things over, she instead finds the man dead, a knife in his back, and his loyal, ever-vigilant Chow Chow locked in the storeroom.

Over the headmaster's objections, Melanie is once again drawn into an investigation. It doesn't take her long to gather a list of suspects, from neighbors balking about the number of rescue Chows the man was fostering in his home, to the landlord who'd filed an eviction notice against him, to the bitter ex-wife who is happy he's gone. With the fundraiser soon drawing to a close and celebrations imminent, Melanie will have to follow every clue—before the biggest prize is staying alive . . .

©2024 Laurien Berenson (P)2024 Tantor

I love this series!

I was so excited to listen to this next installment of the Melanie Travis series. I love dogs, I love cozy mysteries, and I love Laurien Berenson's imagination and knowledge of so many breeds!

the characters

I love this whole series for its character development, the cohesion of the plotting, and the performance by the reader.

Not very entertainingi

This book had tthe same cute family characters as her other books but really didn't have much plot at all. No twists to the story. It was rather boring.

Disappointing

I am so very tired of 'Aunt Pegs' attitude and the voice of the narrator. The narrator sounds like an affected teen and I always want to tell 'Aunt Peg' to leave. Now!