Thursday, December 17, 2009

Hounding the Pavement by Judi McCoy

My synopsis:
Ellie Engleman is the newest dog walker on the Upper East Side. She's recently divorced and wants to live her life as she sees fit. So when she arrives at one of her charge's home, she discovers his owner's body and the dog is missing. Detective Sam Ryder has been assigned to the case. Can the two of them work together to solve the mystery before another dog is taken?

My review:

Ellie Engleman has a new job. Her dream job. She's a dog walker. Ellie also discovered she can hear their thoughts as well as they can hear hers. Imagine her surprise when she learns the dog she recently adopted has been taken over by her former dog's spirit.

As Ellie is trying to build her clientele, she has to also deal with two conniving dog walkers who will do anything to protect their turf. You see, being a dog walker is serious business in NYC, especially on the Upper East Side. Ellie doesn't allow their threats to scare her. When she finds one of her clients dead and his prized dog missing, Ellie knows what she must do: FIND THE DOG!

I'm not sure where I first heard of Hounding the Pavement. Perhaps during a weekly visit to a book store or maybe someone recommended it to me. Being an animal lover myself (and always on the hunt for a new series), I decided to go ahead and buy it. The beginning of the book was quick. I found myself instantly drawn into the story wondering how the missing dog would tie into his owner's death.

Somewhere in the middle, I just lost interest. Several times I thought about putting down the book, but decided to keep reading as I wanted to know what happened to the dog?!? (Oh, yeah and who killed his owner - I know it's an afterthought!) I can't say I was surprised by the ending. The reader can easily figure it out. Even though the mystery was light, I did enjoy the budding relationship between Ellie and Sam.

Despite having mixed thoughts about Hounding the Pavement, I plan to read book two of the series, Heir of the Dog.

About the author:
Ms. McCoy is donating all royalties she earns on sales of this book to Best Friends Animal Society.

Book details:
Series: A Dog Walker Mystery #1
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22631-0
Pages: 305
Year Published: 2009
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: Purchased copy
Date Finished: November 24

2 comments:

  1. Drat! I think I'll probably pass on this series. Have you read the series by Blaize Clement? I read the first one and thought it was pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No, I haven't read that series. I'll have to check it out.

    ReplyDelete