I picked up this book because of the Humane Society logo, since I want to support their work against puppy mills. There were several choices in the display, and I picked this one because it had Dachshunds on the cover, and a promising title (Dachshunds are the crown jewel of the Hound group). Alas, this book is an example of why I have the tag "Dachshund (Alleged)." There are two of them, named Ignatz and Durwood. They don't bark at anyone, they hang out in an office for hours without destroying anything, and they don't try to take over. In other words, the author has cardboard "dog" characters and she plugs whatever breed into them to entice people who love that breed to buy. Since I bought the book, I feel cheated.

As a mystery, it's OK. It's the third volume in the series, and while I generally don't like reading out of order, I didn't feel lost. The backstory was a little heavy handed, but not too bad. The protagonist, Lauren Vancouver, runs an animal shelter and is very involved in rescue. She is smart, although she does dumb things (I think that's a requirement for mysteries), she is likable and she isn't an obvious Mary Sue. The mystery is fairly lame, and that's where we get into the dumb things - Lauren thinks it's a good idea to visit potential witnesses, but she doesn't have well-thought out reasons. Realistically, every visit falls apart pretty quickly, and we get a pattern - Lauren makes an appointment under false pretenses; suspect doesn't confess or volunteer information; Lauren drops her cover story and blurts out whatever comes to mind; suspect volunteers information (which is annoying, because a real human would throw her out); rinse and repeat. There is also a scene where the murderer wears a Halloween mask for an extended, face to face conversation and no one notices. Finally, the murder is solved not because anyone figured it out, but because the plot to expose Mr. Red Herring (very heavy handedly set up) accidentally catches the real killer.

I have had this book in the car, and it's the one I read while waiting in line, stuck in unmoving traffic, and all those other times you just need a book for a few minutes. It was good for that - entertaining, not too complex, not too awful. I wouldn't recommend it for anything else. ( )

It starts slow but it is a good book. I like how she tied up the ending ( )