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CHOW DOWN
by Laurien Berenson
Kensington, September 2006
295 pages
$22.00
ISBN: 0758208154


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Thirteen isn’t an unlucky number for Laurien Berenson; CHOW DOWN might be the dreaded number-after-12 in her Melanie Travis series, but it is a fun, if slightly flawed, read.

Melanie is hugely surprised to hear that her poodle, Faith, is one of the finalists to be spokesdog for a new brand of kibble. It turns out that her son had filled out the paperwork and sent it in under her name. Although Melanie isn’t that interested in winning a contest she never entered, the other four finalists are far more competitive.

If the boxer wins, he could restart his owner’s acting career. If the scottie wins, he’ll provide excitement for his owner, who has already won him every prize available on the show circuit. And the owners of the yorkie and the spaniel have their eyes on the substantial prize money.

When the yorkie’s owner takes a fatal fall down the stairs, everyone except Melanie thinks it’s an accident and that the little dog will be out of the contest. When the owner’s wife steps in and continues, Melanie is left to wonder if someone really is willing to kill to win and how safe are any of the other dogs and owners?

CHOW DOWN is a pleasant, leisurely read; its sole demand on the reader being to suspend disbelief pretty high. Berenson always has had a problem with getting the police out of the way of her amateur detective. In this case, they are next to non-existent, mentioned only in passing by other characters, and never taking direct action except to blatantly blow off a suspicious disappearance.

Melanie’s predicament is also tenuous; she is told that she absolutely, positively cannot withdraw from the contest, although there should be no legal way she could be held responsible for her under-aged son’s entry. But then she isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier – at one point in the story she discusses the investigation while on a bus where all the suspects could overhear her.

And yet for all that, I rather liked CHOW DOWN. The characters are engaging, and Berenson shows us the dog show world without it coming across as lecturing or feeling like unnecessary exposition. Let me put it this way – I’m a cat person and I liked this dog book. It’s a nice, light read if you don’t want to have to think; both long-time series followers and new readers can enjoy it. Just let yourself be swept along – much like Melanie herself.

Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, October 2006

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