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DOGFATHER, THE
by Susan Conant
Prime Crime, February 2003
272 pages
$19/95
ISBN: 0425188388


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I stopped reading Susan Conant about 7 or 8 books ago. The political agenda got to be more than I wanted to read, the comedy wasn't funny any more, the mysteries didn't seem that great. Now I have to go back and pick up where I left off, because maybe I just hit two not-so-good books in a row.

Holly Winter owns/is owned by two Malamutes (Rowdy and Kimi), and is a professional dog trainer who also writes professionally about dogs. She comes by this career genetically: her parents were/are well-respected, well-known dog breeders. Her tendency to end up in the vicinity of dead bodies would seem to indicate that Jessica Fletcher has some connection to the bloodline, but that hasn't yet been proven.

The Dogfather is about Holly Winter and the Boston Mafia, Enzio Guarini in particular. A few years ago, Holly "accidentally did a favor" for Mr. Guarini. Mr. Guarini doesn't like to owe people. When he has a problem with a dog, he calls Holly for help. Well, he doesn't actually "call" her. He sends minions. It takes Ms. Conant several pages to recount Holly's (and Rowdy and Kimi) encounter with Guarini's minions, the limousine, and a box of cheese cannoli intended for Mr. Guarini. By the end of it, I was laughing out loud.

Being no fool, Holly decides to help Mr. Guarini train his new elkhound puppy. Turning him down doesn't seem like a good idea on any number of levels. During an outdoor training session, one of Mr. Guarini's minions, Joey Cortiniglia, is killed. This is not good PR for a Mob Boss, so the spin is that Joey had a heart attack and died.

At the funeral for Joey, Holly is introduced to Joey's widow and her dog. Carla Cortiniglia is wearing "a cocktail dress with thin straps and a plunging neckline that would've been revealing but for the presence of a tiny, fluffy dog tucked into her decolletage. Try that with a malamute. The minescule creature belonged to no identifiable breed, but appeared to be a mix of Chinese crested and Yorkshire terrier with a dash of toy poodle and the merest soupcon of Chihuahua."

Can't you see this creature yapping non-stop out of Carla's cleavage? Mr. Guarini suggests that Holly help Carla train Anthony (the dog) as Carla wants to keep Anthony with her in the new flower shop Mr. Guarini is buying for her, and the dog won't shut up. Again, Holly decides this would be a good idea.

Woven in and around all of this is Susan's possibly resuming romance with her vet, Steve. He is the new, proud owner of one of Rowdy's puppies, Sammy. He is also recovering from a disastrous marriage; the divorce is still in progress. Holly is very aware of the tenuous, fragile nature of this new relationship with Steve.

Guarini has just gotten out of prison, and is being hunted by Blackie Lanigan. The Feds, as personified by Mr. Dietz and Mr. Mazolla, are after Guarini and/or Blackie. Somewhere along the line, Holly's car gets blown up. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Sometimes, when Mr. Guarini's goons want to help Holly, it is really NOT a good thing. The scene at the dog show is a prime example, and I suspect this may come back to haunt Holly in a later book.

Most of the plots and sub-plots are tidied up nicely by the end of the book. The ones connected to the series regulars - Steve, Kevin the next-door-neighbor who happens to be a cop, her upstairs neighbor Rita the therapist - are left a little looser, for obvious reasons.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. It's a nicely done mystery with lots of comedic moments and a little something I didn't know about the dog world. I will go to the library, try to figure out where I left off, and start reading this series again. If you enjoy "dog" mysteries, this one is a good one, and it won't matter too much that it's the 15th in the series.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, February 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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