KILLER CUPID by Laurien Berenson

Here’s another cozy mystery outing for Melanie Travis in the twenty-ninth book of her series. Just right for a Valentine’s Day story, KILLER CUPID is not much more than a novella and concentrates on Melanie and her handsome husband Sam. As a family of dog owners, Melanie is used to having kids and dogs anywhere she and Sam go, but a surprise gift provides them with a couple’s weekend vacation.

The Connecticut countryside is still frozen at this time, providing endless opportunities for winter fun for the wise Standard Poodle, Faith, and the couples staying at the White Birch Inn, which includes Melanie’s brother, Frank, and his wife, Bertie. We previously met this couple as they ran a Christmas tree farm. From skating to a haywagon ride and campfire with hot cider, this is the most fun these adults have had without kids for some time. But a cold shadow is cast over the frivolity when an inn employee is found dead in the snow.

The inn’s owner, Evelyn Barker, asks Melanie to inquire about the deceased events coordinator, Belinda Rush. She may have just died of hypothermia, but it seems unlikely. Everyone having a couples' vacation is entitled to their privacy and probably didn’t know the staff, so Melanie finds herself counting up suspects among the other staff. At times I found it hard to feel empathy for the victim, as we didn’t know her or her family, but gradually a picture emerges of her character and the proceedings come into focus. Many details of the events-packed weekend are worked into the narrative, not to mention giving the elderly Poodle her requisite care. The enthusiastic Bertie comes in very useful, and on more than one occasion Melanie is also glad of Sam’s steadfast backing. The cover photo shows the white Samoyed dog resident at the inn.

If you have not read the earlier books, this is actually a good place to start as KILLER CUPID doesn’t involve too many of the usual cast and too much chaos. Laurien Berenson usually folds a formal dog show and the drill-major-like Aunt Peg into these stories, so this latest adventure is enough to whet your appetite but not spoil you for the feast of earlier installments. They are all well worth a read.

Melanie Travis is taking a much-needed break from the dog show circuit for a romantic Valentine’s trip with her husband Sam, but when someone at their cozy Berkshires inn has an unexpected date with death, Melanie must slip into something sleuthier for the weekend . . .

Melanie is delighted at the prospect of three uninterrupted days alone with Sam (and, of course, her prize-winning Standard Poodle, Faith). They’re booked at the White Birch Inn, a picturesque New England resort nestled at the foot of a snow-covered mountain. The inn has a full slate of couples activities planned for the busy Valentine's weekend—date nights, sleigh rides, tobogganing, ice skating, and pop-up shops in the inn's ballroom —from the bubbly to the bubble bath, the resort is a perfect match for Melanie and Sam’s vacation. But the first night of festivities feature an event that isn’t on the program: murder.

The sheriff quickly launches an investigation, but at the inn keeper’s urging—and because she suddenly finds herself a person of interest in the case—Melanie tries to sneak a little detective work into her romantic getaway. But with the resort nearly sold out for the holiday weekend, there's no shortage of suspects, and Melanie’s secret sleuthing is already attracting the wrong kind of attention. Her Valentine’s trip is heating up faster than the chocolate fondue . . . just not in the way Melanie hoped. But if she doesn’t catch the cold-hearted killer soon, another innocent victim will get the kiss of death . . .