With the excitement of the spring dog show season sweeping Connecticut, prize-winning Poodle owner Melanie Travis is determined to help her son finally lead his Standard Poodle toward a championship title. But the competition is fierce … Aunt Peg even skips the judging panel to exhibit a pup of her own, standing out from the pack with a handmade leash from elite artist Jasmine Crane. Jasmine’s handiwork is to die for-but Aunt Peg didn’t expect to find her strangled to death by one of her dazzling custom creations … When Amanda, Aunt Peg’s longtime dog sitter and a renter on Jasmine’s property, vanishes that same day, Melanie suspects a dangerous connection. Her hunch only grows as she discovers sketchy secrets about the late artist. Juggling a teaching job, the show ring, and a daunting suspect list, Melanie finds herself entangled in a mindboggling murder mystery-and hot on the trail of a desperate killer …

If you like dogs, you’ll love Laurien Berenson’s Melanie Travis mysteries! -Joanne Fluke, New York Times bestselling author