Product Description

A Matter Of Life And Death

There's a lot of excitement down at Jo Beth Sidden's kennel. A full litter of ten baby bloodhounds is due any day. Though pressed for time, Jo Beth still agrees to do a favor for a friend -- finding a reclusive, wealthy matriarch's missing cat. But soon afterward, her client is murdered. Now, Jo Beth is looking for a killer. There's a slew of suspects to choose from, too -- all potential heirs to the matriarch's fortune. The quicker Jo Beth can solve this case, the soon 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121581 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09
• Released on: 2000-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 352 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061090660
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Amazon.com 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

From Publishers Weekly
Bloodhound trainer Jo Beth Sidden is feisty, driven and relentlessly independent. Her fifth, spirited outing (after Blind Bloodhound Justice), set in southeast Georgia, shows that though these characteristics may cost Jo Beth some friends, they do solve mysteries. This time Jo Beth sets off at a dizzying pace to clear up the murder of a domineering billionaire, Alyce Cancannon, who once called Jo Beth in to locate her beloved cat. Suspects include 10 relatives and the family pilot. Jo Beth is aided by a pricey D.C. detective agency hired by the Cancannon lawyers, but before she can delve into the case she must, with the aid of her irrepressible, personable bloodhounds, find a missing plane, identify a stalker and search for drugs. She must also oversee her domain of 57 dogs, 17 puppies and a catAall the while keeping an eye out for her ex-spouse, who has vowed to beat her to death. The deus-ex-machina finale is a disappointment, yet the novel is witty and brisk and so lovingly detailed with the fine qualities of bloodhounds that even the most avid dog-hater will be brought to heel. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In Laniers fifth Jo Beth Siddens novel, the rural Georgia bloodhound breeder and sometime tracker juggles the demands of a new ten-puppy litter with searches for a kidnapped cat, a missing U.S. fighter plane that crashed in the Okefenokee Swamp, and a stalker. Nearly put out of commission by the swipe of an alligators tail in the swamp, Jo Beth nevertheless becomes enmeshed in finding the cat owners killer and winds up facing her own worst enemyskinhead ex-husband Bubba, whos out to kill her. Jo Beths pigheadedness and feminist propensity to take offense at nearly everything are beginning to wear thin, and the ending is just too improbable. But getting to that end is downright pleasurable. Lanier combines fascinating bloodhound lore and detection with dead-on perceptions of her Georgia friends and neighbors. In that regard, she just keeps getting better and better.Francine Fialkoff, Library Journal
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Magical Man (and cat) Trailing Houndies
I liked this book at least as much as the earlier ones in the Bloodhound series. Virginia Lanier provides a realistic tour of the nearly mystical abilities of the bloodhound and keeps the characters busy at the same time. JoBeth is balancing ten bloodhound pups, ten murder suspects, the nasty Bubba and her business all at one time. No wonder she's short-tempered. The astonishing information on the scent machine is true--I've seen it in action. She weaves the facts and the fictional characters together in an exciting story that has humidity and 'gators crawling out of the book's covers. A great read!

Wonderful addition to a very addictive series.
"Ten Little Bloodhounds" sends us off on several almost simultaneous trails, any one of which would make the book well worth reading. As with previous works in the JoBeth-Bloundhound series, I couldn't put the book down. I especially liked the irony of searching for the cat with the dog who was kicked out of the man-hunt-drug-sniffing work because he would trail critters. I guess EVERY dog has his day. The intensity of individual search missions did not seem quite as great as in most of the other books, but the intensity of strain on friendships caused by JoBeth's hard-headedness and meddling in her close friends lives is greater than ever. This strain is more the focus of TLB. JoBeth is more nosier (sic) and more bossier (sic) than ever. Sometimes you want to slap her, but you can't help but love her. Bubba's meaner'n ever, and has help, as if he needed it. In light of the flurry of an ending, I can't wait to see what happens to JoBeth next.

Superb Reading
I have read all of Virginia Lanier's books (date of review 8/7/00). All five are full of excitement and suspense as well as romance and humor.

Being a dog lover myself, I was fascinated by the nuances of caring for, training, and working with bloodhounds.

I just finished her last book in the series and I will sorely miss Jo Beth and her adventures into the swamp with her magnificent dogs. I am eagerly awaiting the next one!