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? ( )

Underdog is #2 in a mystery series by Laurien Berenson. The detective is a 30 special ed teacher who is raising her five year old son with no help from her former husband. She is new to the world of show dogs but is starting to show her standard poodle with the help of her very experienced aunt. Experience in dog shows that is. This series is what are called "cosy mysteries". I didn't know what that meant though I had heard the term before. I do know now and I am pretty sure I don't really like cozy mysteries that much. There is a multi-paragraph definition of cozy mystery at this site http://www.cozy-mystery.com/definition-of-a-cozy-mystery.html . According to the site Cozy Mystery List Murder She Wrote and Agatha Christie fit the category.

I kept reading because I liked the dogs and because the five year old son and the aunt were well crafted and appealing characters. This series will not become my favorite but I will probably read another some time. ( )

After the summer's entirely too exciting events connected to the theft of Melanie's Aunt Peg's prize standard poodle, Beau, Melanie herself is now the owner of a standard poodle puppy named Faith, whom Peg expects her to show to her championship. While she begins to enjoy dog ownership along with her five-year-old son, Melanie is also taking dog show handling classes with a well-known handler, Jenny Maguire. Melanie and Jenny are becoming friends, and when Jenny tells her that Ziggy, Jenny's much-loved mini poodle, escaped their yard and was killed by a car, Melanie is shocked.

Less than a week later, Jenny is dead, of arsenic poisoning.

Was it an accident? Suicide?

Or, as the police suspect, murder?

And a few days later, following up on a food recommendation Jenny made during their last visit together, Melanie discovers that Ziggy is not dead; he's living with the boarding kennel owner who makes the food Jenny recommended.

Naturally, Melanie's natural curiosity, not to say nosiness, and genuine concern has her asking questions and paying attention to odd details in the dog world. Was Jenny's husband Rick so controlling that Jenny was planning to disappear? Just how personally was Harry Flynn, handler of a champion springer spaniel, taking his rivalry with Jenny and the champion cocker spaniel she was handling? Will Jenny's younger sister Angie be able to handle the cocker successfully? How well did Angie and Jenny really get along? Angie and Rick?

Melanie learns a lot more about the dog show world, along with the reader. We get to see her in her own professional setting, as a special education teacher, and the budding romance with Sam is moving along, possibly in the direction of blossoming.

This is another light, entertaining mystery with engaging characters, both human and canine.

Recommended.

I bought this book. ( )

One of my favorites in this enjoyable series. Some good plot twists; and wonderful writing about the dog show world. ( )