GAITS OF HEAVEN

Trainer/writer Holly Winter learns yet more reasons why dogs make better friends than people.

When therapists Ted and Eumie Green win some obedience lessons for their designer dog Dolfo, the challenge puts Holly’s skills (Bride & Groom, 2004, etc.) to the test. The Greens believe in positive training. But Dolfo’s lack of any training has led to messes all over the house and a string of short-term housekeepers. No wonder the humans in this wacky household—rounded out by Ted’s son Wyeth and Eumie’s daughter Caprice from former marriages—need regular therapy and extra helpings of prescription drugs. And no wonder Eumie is found dead of an overdose. Agreeing with the police that it’s a case of murder, Caprice, a Harvard classmate of Holly’s niece Leah, moves into Holly’s home to escape her abusive step-sib. After nearly killing Ted and Dolfo when he throws his computer out the window in a fit of pique, Wyeth runs off to his mother, who buys him a Range Rover. He uses his new wheels to mow down Caprice, who’d helped Eumie dig up dirt on people but somehow missed the fact that her adored father’s an online-porn addict. In a family meeting of children, exes and therapists, Holly hears a clue that helps her solve another cano-centric crime.

Conant’s amusing and informative tale of noble dogs and ignoble humans has something for both dog devotees and mystery-lovers.