by Laurien Berenson
Kensington, September 2002
277 pages, $22.00
ISBN: 1575667819
Melanie Travis series #9
As Melanie Travis, teacher and Standard Poodle owner, tries to cope with the reappearance into her life of her ex-husband, Bob, and her ex-fiancé, Sam, Aunt Rose drops by with another dilemma. Her husband Peter is running a benefit auction for the Outreach program and he has received an unusual donation--a Dachshund puppy. Rose and Peter need to keep the puppy for a few weeks until the auction and neither of them have a clue about puppy care.
In the midst of this dilemma, another one appears--Bob has appeared with a pony for Davey, his and Melanie's seven-year-old son--and it is in the street being led out of its trailer. At least this problem has a happy ending--Bob and stable owner, Pam Donnelly, have only brought the pony over for Davey to see and ride, then it goes back to Pam's farm where Davey will take riding lessons.
Aunt Peg is another problem. She is not pleased that a puppy is being put up for auction, to be taken home by the highest bidder without any thought to the puppy's welfare. And she is not pleased with Melanie's reluctance to forgive Sam for leaving her.
If this all weren't enough, Melanie is then bombarded at a dog show by Jill Prescott, fledgling TV reporter, and her cameraman. Jill is convinced that Melanie will bring her a news-breaking story especially with Melanie's propensity to fall over dead bodies. As Jill puts it, Melanie is the "School Teacher Mom Who Takes a Bite Out of Crime". Melanie declines to give Jill an interview--and Jill resorts to following Melanie everywhere she goes and phoning Melanie's friends and relatives to get background information.
Melanie is sure she can handle everything--until she gets home that evening and finds every light in her house blazing when she knows that it should be dark. Baffled since nothing is missing, Melanie shrugs off the incident.
Aunt Peg investigates the puppy donation and finds out that the puppy is stuck in the middle of a divorce battle. Unwillingly, Melanie is nominated to talk the husband out of donating the puppy. Aunt Rose also talks Melanie into taking care of the puppy.
Melanie is distracted by other bizarre events going on in her life--she finds a TV blaring and the back door unlocked one night even though she is sure that the TV was off and the house locked up before going to bed. Her wallet is stolen. Her dogs are found wandering the streets. The puppy is stolen. Sam thinks she is seeing Bob. Pam, spending more and more time with Bob, is acting strangely towards Melanie. A dog-walking client wants to get to know Melanie better. She unwittingly makes enemies of Bichon owners, Jean and Mike Azaria, when she is roped into handling their puppy at a show.
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