Dogfather (Dog Lover's Series #15) by Susan Conant

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
This 15th outing for Boston dog trainer Holly Winter is no walk in the park -- but it's a real romp for any well-schooled mystery fan. Like most dog enthusiasts, when Holly thought of "connections" she meant canine bloodlines, not crime bosses…at least until the dog-loving local godfather made her an offer she couldn't refuse. Now, like it or not, Holly is dog trainer to the Mob, and desperately trying to limit herself to that perfectly innocent, totally legal role in the life of the notorious mobster. Despite the advantages of training the don's delightful elkhound puppy, she'd like nothing better than to see her all-too-connected human client back in a cage. Thanks to him, a hit man has disrupted her training sessions, some shady feds have come around making threats, and her car has been blown to smithereens. And, worst of all, some well-intentioned meddling by the mobster's eager-to-please associates is likely to get Holly and her wonderful malamutes tossed off the dog show circuit for influence peddling. Lately, it seems like only the dogs are listening to Holly…and the results could be deadly. Susan Conant once again unleashes her lively writing style and her witty sense of humor in this top-notch mystery. Sue Stone

From the Publisher

Holly Winter gets an offer she can't refuse: dog trainer to the Mob. Specifically, teaching an Elkhound puppy to behave. Its owner is another story-a wiseguy who's killed so many people even the FBI's lost count. And now Holly's caught in the middle of his newest vendetta...

Publishers Weekly

Dog fans will lap up Susan Conant's The Dogfather, in which series sleuth Holly Winter (The Wicked Flea, etc.) reluctantly agrees to train mob boss Enzio Guarini's four-month-old Elkhound puppy. When someone bumps off Guarini's right-hand man, Holly realizes she might've done better to roll over and play dead than to accept a training job she couldn't refuse.

Kirkus Reviews

The first thing to know about freelance canine reporter/sleuth Holly Winter (The Wicked Flea, 2002, etc.) is that she sees no happenstance in dog being "god" spelled backwards. Because Holly worships man’s best friend—not only her matchless pair of Alaskan malamutes, but virtually every pooch, right or wrong, that ever barked up a tree—she allows herself to begin a relationship she never could have predicted. That Enzio Guarini, Massachusetts’s leading crime boss, has spent decades filling body bags is certainly true and, she acknowledges, certainly reprehensible, but clearly the man has an upside: He’s a fellow fanatic. Redeemed by Holly’s own obsession, Guarini, in addition, has an irresistible four-month-old elkhound brimming with adorable puppy energy. In fact, the boss has been a devoted reader of Holly on puppy training and is convinced she’s nonpareil. Willy-nilly, then, she becomes dog-trainer to the mob and an object of interest to the FBI, and two grim-looking feebies materialize on her doorstep with covert listening devices and veiled threats. Holly, refusing to plant the devices and determined to ignore the threats, is soon the bone of contention between snarling, teeth-baring enemies. A couple of corpses complicate matters scarily, a precious malamute is almost stolen, Holly’s love life takes a serious hit, and she herself has a near-death experience, but, as the fans she’s garnered over 15 novels can testify, Holly hangs in doggedly. Amiability and wit enough to entertain even dog dilettantes. For canophiles, a must.

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