BOOK TITLE: A Pedigree To Die For: A Melanie Travis Mystery
AUTHOR: Laurien Berenson
YEAR: 1995
GENRE: Fiction
SUBGENRE: Cozy Mystery
GRADE: Pass
Melanie Travis is a single mother who tries to balance
getting her life back in order with solving the murder of her uncle Max
Turnbull. The Turnbulls made their living by breeding poodles and showing them
off at dog competitions. Their most prized stud, Beau, is missing from his
kennel after Max’s aggravated heart attack. With her firebrand Aunt Peg
coaching her along the way, Melanie shows up at the dog contests looking for
evidence as to who might be in possession of the kidnapped Beau. She starts off
with a bunch of hopeless dead ends, but as the mystery progresses, blackmail,
corruption, and murder become much stronger themes in analyzing the clues.
When I first started reading this, I had my doubts as to
whether this would be a realistic mystery due to all of the dead ends Melanie
hits along the way. And then I realized that trial and error have always been a
part of the mystery genre. Narrowing the suspects down to one is hard and
tiring work, especially with as many enthusiastic dog show competitors as there
are. Sometimes the pieces don’t click together right away. Sometimes Aunt Peg
seems more like a pain in the butt than a true detective. However, if you
continue reading, the plot will thicken near the middle of the book. The
further you delve into this mystery, the more you want to know until the search
hits its climax. That is the true nature of mystery stories and my doubts have
been blasted out of the water by Laurien Berenson’s masterful storytelling
techniques.
Another thing I love about this book is how realistic
Melanie’s parenting skills are and how they make her into a sympathetic and
likeable character right away. She’s recently divorced from her husband Bob and
is left to take care of four-year-old Davey. The little guy is a bundle of
energy that can keep on going like the dynamo he is. Even though Melanie is
driven nuts by his ballistic behavior, she handles it like a champ and shows
infinite patience for her special little guy. She knows when to tell him no and
knows when to let him play and discover. She also takes him to McDonald’s every
once and a while for yummy food. The fact that she can balance raising Davey by
herself while solving her uncle’s murder will make any reader believe in girl
power all over again.
Where would I be without mentioning the cuteness of the
puppy-duppies being displayed in the pages of this wonderfully-written novel?
They’re just as energetic as little Davey and show undying loyalty and love to
whoever is around them. They sit on laps, they stick their wet noses into
people, they smile like they’re actually capable of saying cheese, and they
play around like innocent little cherubs. I wouldn’t mind scooping up some of
these puppy-dups and bringing them home with me. One thing I would like to
clarify is that you’ll hear the words “stud” and “bitch” quite liberally in
this book. They’re not meant to refer to sexually active men and nasty women
respectively, but rather to the gender of the dogs and whether or not they’ll
be used for breeding. Try not to laugh when you hear about a “stud servicing
many bitches.” It doesn’t mean what you think it means. You can laugh a little
bit, but do try to contain yourself. It’s a cozy mystery, after all, not an
erotic romance.
The pacing of this book is smooth and steady. As a reader,
you can get inside Melanie Travis’ head, process the clues she picks up, and
sense the body language of others while maintaining a reasonable speed. No
purple prose here, which is probably the wisest option if you’re going to write
a mystery novel. It also helps that the clues are easy to put together and that
the explanations don’t take too many lines of text. Many avid readers could
probably blow through this book in twenty-four hours. Even with its slick
reading pace, it doesn’t feel over too soon and it’s a complete story with no
stone left unturned. That’s the best kind of mystery you could ask for from an
author like Laurien Berenson.
Maybe this isn’t the most life-changing book you’ll ever
read, but it’s definitely a fun-filled, well-thought-out story that will keep
you entertained from cover to cover. If you like dogs, strong female characters,
or murder mysteries, I’m sure this book will have something to your liking. I
happen to like all three of those qualities, so I enjoyed the book very much. A
passing grade goes to an author I’ll definitely want to read another book from.
Congratulations on a successful debut of Melanie Travis!
