Book Review: Death in Show (dog walker, Manhattan, dog show, poison)

Death in Show: A Dog Walker Mystery, by Judi McCoy (New American Library/Penguin, 2010, 326 pages, $6.99)

A Short Review of a Long Book

Ah, mysteries. And about a dog walker to boot! How entrancing. Seemingly right up my alley.

An Enjoyable Read, If. . . .

If you like little dogs who are often carried. If you like designer dogs like a yorkiepoos. If you like Manhattan. If your little dog wears a coat in inclement weather. If you like walking a bunch of dogs together (only in New York or on TV!) – generally from the same high-rise apartment building. If you like dog names like Rudy and Lulu (dogs) and people names like Flora and Ellie. If you believe someone can make a good living walking dogs in New York City.

However, . . . .

I am a big dog person. I like pure-bred dogs as well as All-American dogs (mutts). I generally walk one dog at a time. I do adore mysteries, however, and Death in Show is about a huge dog show in New York City but one in which Best in Group is won by a new amateur handler in her first show. I also couldn’t imagine walking dogs starting at 8 am. What time do their people go to work – 4 am? Some, certainly, are the idle riche who employ housekeepers for their apartments or penthouses and pay others, including dog walkers, to take care of their dogs.

And, to boot, our dog walker, Ellie, talks to dogs and they talk back to her! She is called a dog psychic in one book. What the dogs say is in italics so you can differentiate human words from canine words, thank goodness. Even with that, I sometimes was lost in the translation.

Death in Show is number three in the dog walker mystery series. Other titles include Fashion Faux Paw, Begging for Trouble, Till Death Do Us Bark , Heir of the Dog, and Hounding the Pavement – cute and clever titles. Clever also is a frequent play on words in Death in Show, however, a bit contrived.

A Little Romance

Although not a romance novel, Death in Show stars a budding relationship between our Ellie DogWalker and her Sam, an NYPD detective, in an on-again, off-again relationship. He saves her in the nick of time and also tries to protect her by keeping her out of the thick of things but still, our Ellie solves the murder, of course.

McCoy has written six dog walker mysteries, but I think one is enough for me. Anyone want the copy I purchased?