Gone to the Dogs

A Dog Lover's Mystery #6

by Susan Conant

When a local vet and a pampered pet disappear, Holly Winter and her veterinarian lover Steve Delaney go to the exclusive Cambridge Dog Training Club to investigate.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Dogs, Fiction, Cozy, Animals, Christmas

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1992

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
(1)mysteries

Mother of author Jessica Park aka Jessica Conant-Park

The photo is of Jessica Conant-Park and Susan Conant, daughter and mother.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's Christmas, a time of year Holly Winter dislikes. When a local vet and a pet disappear, she likes it even less as she goes hunting for them.

I think this is the last book I got in the series. I don't think I'll get any more.

[Bea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be a book I would really enjoy - a mystery about a dog lover. Right up my alley? Nope. The writing was tedious as Susan Conant tried to educate her readers to often into the world of dog training. And the mystery was not really a mystery for much of the story and, by the time it was, I no longer cared.

There are other Dog Lovers Mysteries, but I will not be reading them.

[Judy Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read books about dog people. If you do any dog sports-obedience, agility, tracking, nose work, etc- these books are fun, easy reads. The events happen in a world you know. Enjoyed reading this one.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I am not the dog lover I thought I was because this was boring. I felt like I was being lectured to about everything from dog safety to dog etiquette. This was not my cup of tea and I will not be following this author.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I like about her books is that I get so engrossed in the doggy details, the characters, etc... that I forget there's supposed to be a mystery. Then it's like "Oh... yeah...".

[Heathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover is very cute, but the book is a bore. First, I can't stand first-person novels. Occasionally I find a good one, but most are hideous. This one was unbelievably irritating. The main character (Holly) will stop mid sentence to ask a rhetorical question. For example: "So, I was out training my dogs in agility yesterday. You don't know what agility is? That's a shame. It's _______".

I got so sick of hearing about Cambridge. "Oh, that blanket is soooo Cambridge! This cafe is for the hipsters of Cambridge. In Cambridge, we eat this & drink this & wear this & say this". Blah blah blah!!!

Too many characters... I couldn't even keep track of who had disappeared.

Too much talk about how the AKC & UKC operate too. I love dogs. But I'm trying to read a novel here, not a textbook on how to train my animals.

[Coralee Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conant's breezy style assumes the reader may not in fact be a Dog Lover. Her protagonist, Holly Winter clearly absolutely is. Set at Christmas time, Holly is more interested in the fate of a missing veterinarian and the mysterious stranger who helped rescue Kimi from a perilously busy Cambridge MA. road. Filled with information about obedience training, rare AKC breeds, and the quirks of better known breeds such as terriers and malamutes, Conant also produces a carefully plotted mystery with a highly satisfactory ending.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a delightful, fun read! I love mysteries and I was looking for some light "beach reading" material. So glad I found Susan Conant's dog mysteries. They're easy reads -- fun whodunnits that surround the main character's life as a dog writer and trainer. If you participate in any dog training or sport, you'll get kick out of the inside jokes of dog training, the AKC, and dog sports (and their people!).

[Susan Poling · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are too many other books in this world to read. I found it slow, totally predictable and not very funny at all.

[Alton Motobu · Rating 3 out of 5]

For dog lovers only, this is not a cozy Christmas mystery. It is a missing persons case, but most of the book is about the world of purebred dogs: obedience training, dog shows, veterinarian treatment of dogs, and all of the eccentric people who own these dogs and whose lives are centered around them. It takes place a few days before Christmas when a local vet goes missing without a trace, then the wife of another vet goes missing. There is almost no flavor, atmosphere and festivities about Christmas. If you like the dog show crowd and enjoy learning about some rare purebred dogs, this is for you.

[Taylor Segen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I read one of Conant's books years ago and don't remember being all that impressed so didn't have a lot of expectations this time around. I was wrong. I really enjoyed this. I love her understanding of canines and of the proper way to train them and care for them. Too often authors know just enough to be dangerous or they push purebreds and breeding. I also enjoyed a "mystery" not framed as a mystery as I have grown very bored with that genre. Conant brings a sense of humor and creates a fun read.

[Mardi D · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was OK, not spectacular, just OK--so really it deserves only 2 1/2 stars. It was rather easy to figure out who the killer was even before you knew there was an actual murder. Also the author using the word "like" in sentences where it does not belong and sounding like an airhead highschooler, I strongly dislike. If I happen to come across another one of her books in this series (I won't purposely be searching one out) I will probably try it since I do like dogs, but if it should have similar flaws it will be the last.

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a hard one for me to read because a well loved character dies. Yesterday was 12 years since my kitty, Molly died at 22 and it's always a hard day for me. She was a very special cat and this character was like that for his person.

There were some parts that the writing seemed scattered but when it was on track the story was good. The way the murders were done and attempted cover ups were really good.

[Tabitha Ormiston-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't read this if you have recently lost your dog and are still dealing with grief, especially if bloat was a factor. Otherwise, it's a magnificent book, I praise it highly but oh God it did make me cry so hard.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the book that introduced me to the series.

[Brooke Sillaby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Round up to 3.25 stars. Better than some of her others, but the mystery solving was a bit lacking.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lite book some info on the the dog training world.

[Angela O'Shea-Duke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Malamute love

I have enjoyed every book in the Holly Winter series. Not just because I have soft spot go malamutes but because the story always grabs you

[Mare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entertaining installment in an engaging series.

[Zhanna Sherwood West · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. Very heavy on the B****. Altho it characterized dog people well, and the mystery took a little longer to gain traction.

[Rose Blum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read several dog oriented "mysteries " lately with romantic involvement with the main character's veterinarian. Not that I am selecting these stories on purpose, it is a trend with authors. Don't get me wrong ~ a good vet is priceless when you are a cattle rancher with dogs like me ~ it's just that the vets are always really busy & stressed by the nature of their work. And then to be involved with murder????? Give unto me a break from this type of plot. I also find that I tend to finish reading these stories because I have bought them for my Nook. If it was a library book I would have just returned it without finishing it!

[Suzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this new-to-me series

If you love dogs and really love mysteries, you will enjoy this Book! A little trouble with placing the many characters, but otherwise an easy reading. Thank you Ms Conant!

[crayolaab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great story by Susan Conant! Holly's dog, Kimi, is saved by a strange man whom Holly then befriends and invites to her dog training club. At the same time, her boyfriend Steve hires another vet to work at his practice, something that is long needed so Steve can take some time off! Then people in the dog world start disappearing and who better than Holly to solve the mystery?

Combining details about a rare breed of dogs with a history lesson on the exploration of Antarctica, Susan Conant again fills her book with factual details which make it a really enjoyable read.

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy these dogs books by Susan Conant. The stories about Holly Winter and her two Alaskan malamutes are always entertaining.

Holly is taking her two dogs to the vet and Kimi runs into traffic before Holly can get her leash on her. She is saved by a man who says he recently lost a dog.

One of th local vets has been missing for 3 weeks and another vet's wife is missing. At Holly's Christmas party everyone is speculating about what has happened to these two people. Holly slowly unravels the mystery.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

#6 in the Dog Lover's Mystery series. Unfortunately named dog magazine columnist, Holly Winter, is based in Cambridge, MA. She persists in trying to train her malemute in this aptly named series for dog lovers.

Dog Lover's series - Holly Winter meets John Buckley when he rescues her malemute Kimi from traffic. John shows up at odd times with whiskey breath and his dog, a mutt as he calls it - Holly tries to remember where she has heard of a tail like this dog has. Steve has a new assistant vet, Lee Miner who had worked for the missing vet Oscar Patterson, then Miner's wife goes missing.

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

f your name is Holly Winter, Yuletide can be a real female dog. When a local vet and a pampered pet suddenly disappear, Holly scents hemlock amid the pine and mistletoe and follows the tracks of a purebred killer. To get a leg up on the mystery, Holly takes her two Alaskan malamutes and hunk veterinarian Steve Delaney into the exclusive Cambridge Dog Training Club and back out onto the dangerous streets of the city. She won't quit until she muzzles a rare breed of two-time killer, because when it comes to dognapping and sudden death, Holly has a short leash for murder...

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was a good book, but not a great one. The story didn't seem quite as exciting as previous ones in the series. I did think that the killer's way of disposing of bodies was unique, not something I had heard of before. But I never felt a real sense of menace. The story just ambled along, with lots of doggy information mixed in.

[Julia]

Love Holly and her world

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by this author. I'm on a dog kick right now so it fed right into that interest. I thought it was cute and fed my dog obsession, but it wasn't great. I will probably give another of her books a try.

[Helen Fleischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

sociopathic vet