Ten Little Bloodhounds - Hardcover

Lanier, Virginia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060175486 ISBN 13: 9780060175481

Publisher: Harper, 1999

Synopsis

Ten little bloodhounds are just the tip of the trouble in this fifth outing in Virginia Lanier's award-winning mystery series featuring Jo Beth Sidden and the smartest, sweetest team of search-and-rescue dogs in the South.

Jo Beth runs her own business training and selling bloodhounds. With her best dogs she also braves the dangers in and around the Okefenokee Swamp to find lost children, escaped convicts, and illegal stashes. On occasion, she's been known to investigate a crime or two.

In her latest case, Jo Beth is hired by a reclusive, wealthy island matriarch to find her lost cat. Shortly thereafter, her client is murdered, and the lawyers hire Jo Beth to find the culprit. There is a slew of suspects, all potential heirs to the matriarch's fortune. Only one is a killer.

Meanwhile, a full litter of ten baby hounds is expected back at the kennel. This rare, difficult birth isn't just a matter close to Jo Beth's heart. It will also be a much-needed boon for her business.

The quicker Jo Beth can solve this case, the sooner she can get home to her dogs and get her life in order. But she's in for a surprise, and a fight she'll never forget.

Ten Little Bloodhounds is a beat-the-clock mystery with a masterful mix of deception, danger, and down-home sleuthing.

About this title

Review

If Elizabeth Dole raised bloodhounds, she'd probably be a lot like Jo Beth Sidden, the heroine of Virginia Lanier's terrific series. That is to say, Jo Beth lacks a little in the warmth and empathy department, but she's very smart, very tough, and precisely the person you'd want if you were an Air Force colonel trying to locate a missing plane. "Planetrailing" isn't Jo Beth's usual bowl of grits; neither is searching for a lost cat that belongs to a crusty Southern matriarch who's even tougher than she is. But Jo Beth and her bloodhounds have the nose for sniffing out lost causes. Unfortunately, the wealthy Alyce Cancannon soon turns up dead--and Jo Beth is hired to find the murderer.

There are 10 possible suspects, and in the process of running the killer among them to ground, Jo Beth is attacked by an alligator, kidnapped by a man she had romantic designs on, and put on trial for her own life. Meanwhile, the imminent birth of 10 new bloodhounds adds to the tension!

This fifth Bloodhound adventure is somewhat melancholy, owing to the protagonist's contained emotionality and sometimes unlikable personality. But Jo Beth grows on the reader from one book to the next. And as usual, Lanier serves up a full helping of fascinating information about dog breeding, handling, training, and what can only be called "canine forensics." --Jane Adams

About the Author

Virginia Lanier lives on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp in Echols County, Georgia.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0060175486
• ISBN 13: 9780060175481
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288