Underdog

Melanie Travis is back. Now, the Connecticut teacher and single mother returns to elite canine circles, this time as the owner and handler of her own pedigreed poodle — and uncovers a killer lurking among the dogged handlers and their prize-winning pets.

It’s not easy being the underdog, but what Melanie and her five-month-old pup lack in experience, they make up in enthusiasm. Melanie signs up for a breed-handling class at Connecticut’s classiest obedience school…only to have her education cut short by sudden death. Melanie — with her unerring nose for detection — smells murder.

With her rambunctious puppy, five-year-old son, and Sam Driver — the man giving her both hot fantasies and cold feet — in tow, Melanie hits the championship circuit. In this dog-eat-dog world where winning is everything, she discovers that more than one suspect had a bone to pick with the victim, including: an unctuous rival handler, an envious younger sister, and a kennel owner whose secret recipe for dog biscuits isn’t the only thing she’s guarding.

Between laps around the show ring, Melanie learns some tricks of her own. But will she learn fast enough to stay out of the reach of a killer?