Underdog (©1996)

Melanie Travis Series #2
by Laurien Berenson

Melanie Travis is back - after her first run through the competitive dog show world in A Pedigree to Die For. 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 a 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 adoring but possessive husband, an envious younger sister, and a kennel owner whose secret recipe for dog biscuits isn't the only thing she's guarding.