KILLER CUPID

A dog breeder with a nose for crime takes a break from her canine companions—but not from murder.

Life with two kids, five standard poodles, and one frisky mutt can get hectic. So Melanie Travis is thrilled when her Aunt Peg surprises her and her husband, Sam, with a romantic Valentine’s weekend getaway at the canine-friendly White Birch Inn in the Berkshires. Peg offers to take care of 5-year-old Kevin, teenage Davey, and five of the six dogs, knowing that Melanie would never leave Faith, her oldest poodle, behind. The first person Mel meets at the White Birch, as she and Sam and her brother, Frank, and sister-in-law, Bertie (invited to go along by Kevin and Davey), arrive, is owner Evelyn Barker, whose white Samoyed, Sammy, is an immediate hit with Faith. Unfortunately, that’s how the trouble starts. Mel takes Faith and Sammy for a late-night romp by the lake and sees events coordinator Belinda Rush locked in a tight embrace with an unknown man. The next morning Belinda’s body is found outdoors, and the police insist she died of exposure. The local sheriff isn’t impressed when Mel tells her about Belinda’s late-night assignation, but Evelyn, concerned with the inn’s reputation, asks Mel to investigate. Unmasking the killer proves to be fairly straightforward but somehow less fun without the poodle posse cavorting around and beneath Mel’s feet.

Romance is no substitute for poodles.