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Rating: 
Summary: Magical Man (and cat) Trailing Houndies
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: Superb Reading
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: A memorable effort
Review: I suspect that I liked this book because of the quirky way the author weaves back and forth from the bloodhounds to the trainor. It is really two books...the feminist protagonist is a cliche, and the bloodhounds who were very appealing. I guess I am more familiar with feminists than I am with bloodhounds. I do recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Series
Review: Jo Beth is starting to get on my nerves -- she doesn't seem to realise just how closely her own surface personality resembles that of the rich old lady she doesn't like (but whose cat she finds, anyway). I have enjoyed this series up till now, and i liked this one enough to go on to the next one (assuming there is one), but some things just don't wear well -- the way in which all the Good Ole Boys Jo Beth has to work with look upon her as rather amusing, somewhat uppity and a little dim when she tries to enlighten them (while undoubtedly true-to-life everywhere, and more so in the backwoods South -- and check my hometown before you send me "What do you know about it?" e-mails) is starting to sound like a broken record. Jo Beth's running inability to relate easily with those around her -- even those she loves and respects -- is also getting old, and comes to a head in this book that almost had me ready to quit reading the series. As usual, the "main" storyline is anything but -- the murder of the old lady is the book's selling point, but it's really secondary to the other storylines, crises and general hugger-mugger Jo Beth's life seems to abound with. Among the more interesting elements are a couple of searches for types of things Jo Beth has never asked her dogs to find before, some rather intense interaction with the denizens of the swamps, and a few nicely-drawn vignettes of the dogs in action. But the unmasking of the old lady's murderer is both by-the-numbers drudge work not at all involving the dogs and not very interesting. Add in a deus-ex-machina last-minute solution to major plot elements that comes out of left field, and you get the weakest entry in the series. But still worth reading, if only for the bloodhounds, and for watching Jo Beth shoot down a couple of overbearing authority figures -- and because there *are* elements in this story that will forever change the future of Jo Beth, a couple of the other recurring characters and of the series overall. I note at least one other reviewer complains about the copy-editing; i'd guess this book was proofed by spell-checker, because several places words in the text, while perfectly spelt, are simply the wrong words -- one that sticks in my head is "purpose" where "propose" is clearly meant. And someone who doesn't understand the rules of useage is responsible for putting "Jasmine and I" in at least one place where "Jasmine and me" would be correct. Another complaint i have (which applies to the whole series) is that while Lanier lives in the South, she still misses subtlties of Southern speech -- several times, she has characters who say "you-all" (or however she's spelling it) when speaking to a single person. Not the way it usually works. There are a couple of other places where the speech patterns grate a bit. All of that aside, this is a book that devotees of the series will want to read, no matter what, as it contains things they need to know. For people who haven't read any of the series, start at the beginning.
Rating:
Summary: Despite Some Errors, A Very Enjoyable Read
Review: Ms. Lanier is a very good story teller. She weaves several plot lines through this story and makes it work. I like the main character, Jo Beth Sidden. She is tough and prickly on the outside and mush on the inside. She rubs a lot of people the wrong way but stands up and accepts the consequences. The dogs, however, are the true stars in this series and Ms. Lanier is at her best when writing about them. This book would have benefited from a better proof reading. There were quite a few errors throughout the book, but they really didn't detract from the story. Actually, it became rather fun looking for them. Like a treasure hunt. I enjoyed reading this book very much and look forward to the next installment in this series.
Rating: 
Summary: I needed bloodhounds to follow the plot...
Review: There seemed to be entirely too much going on in this story, to the point that I lost track of several subplots. Maybe this book showed the heroine in a worse light than most, but I didn't find her charmingly feisty, I found her extremely irritating. Maybe I am simply tired of Southern characters who brag about Southern manners and then are pig-rude to everyone they meet. I am willing to believe that she is more interesting than this book shows her, but I will probably never know. I am fascinated by bloodhounds and I *still* couldn't enjoy this book, so I do not plan to investigate the rest of the series. If nothing else, any novel that would have a major character's murder trial occupy about two chapters squeezed into the end has got more problems than I care to think about. The fact that, under the circumstances described, the major character would probably never have been charged in real life only made that part more bewildering. I plan to read a "How To" book about bloodhound training to cleanse my palate, and then never go near another book in this series ever again.
Rating:
Summary: Love the Hounds
Review: While I not sure JoBeth and I would be best buddies, I can see why she is so prickly. I too live down here with those "Southern Boys" So well woven, all the plot lines and sub plots. 10 suspects, ala Madam A.... Skillfully put together and never boring. I never saw the "Villians" or the ending coming! As always wonderful Bloodhounds and lore. I want my own BobbyLee!
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