A Christmas Howl

Book 0: Melanie Travis Mystery

by Laurien Berenson

Genres: Holiday books; Literary Fiction

Synopsis

A special novella that looks back on Christmas past, as a young Melanie Travis teams up with her aunt to solve a family mystery…

Ever wonder what Melanie and Aunt Peg were up to before solving murders? Let’s step back in time, when college-aged Melanie and her indomitable Aunt Peg were little more than strangers…
 
It’s Christmas in Connecticut, and Peg Turnbull can’t wait to spend her favorite holiday cozying up to husband Max and their clan of pedigree Poodles in Greenwich. But Peg’s spirits drop when the family of Max’s estranged brother Michael invites the pair over for Christmas dinner. Could her in-laws want to settle the long-standing feud over Nana’s will? Peg isn’t expecting any miracles, but it’s been ages since Peg last saw her niece and nephew. Little Melanie must be out of pigtails by now…
 
When they arrive at the Turnbulls’, Peg is not just surprised by how much Melanie has grown up. The family has spared no expense in preparing for the festivities—unusual, considering Michael blew his inheritance after years of financial troubles. Peg suspects there’s an awful secret tucked beneath her brother-in-law’s ostentatious good cheer, and she’s determined to get to the bottom of it. Once she does, someone’s ending up in the doghouse…

“If you like dogs, you'll love Laurien Berenson's Melanie Travis mysteries!”—Joanne Fluke, New York Times bestselling author

Release date: November 1, 2015

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 75

Sample

Margaret Turnbull was a busy woman. She had a kennel full of Standard Poodles to care for, an article to finish writing for Poodle Variety, a litter of new puppies due after Christmas, and a big, wet, black dog lying on the grooming table in front of her waiting to be blown dry. What she didn’t have was time for needless interruptions.

Unless they came from her husband, Max, whom she adored.

“Eileen wants us to do what?” she asked. Turning off the switch on the freestanding dryer to silence its loud whine, she tilted the nozzle away and looked up. Peg was quite certain she’d heard Max right the first time. Still, she wanted to hear him say the words again.

“Eileen and Michael have invited us to come for Christmas dinner,” Max repeated.

Michael was Max’s older brother. Eileen was his wife. The couple had two children, a boy and a girl. Those children had barely been teenagers the last time she’d seen them, Peg realized. Busy with school and friends, and everything else that young people got up to, neither had been present on the infrequent occasions Peg had seen her in-laws recently.

“I can’t imagine what prompted them to do something like that.” Abruptly her good mood vanished. A vague feeling of disgruntlement took its place.

Christmas, now just a week away, was her favorite holiday. Peg loved everything about the occasion, from the cheery decorations to the sound of Christmas carols to the holiday pastries and sweets. Just the heady scent of evergreen was enough to lift her spirits.

Christmas was supposed to be a time of joy and goodwill. Except, Peg thought unhappily, where her in-laws were concerned.

“Christmas dinner with your family,” she said with a small frown. “What an odd idea. You and Michael are barely on speaking terms. And he and Eileen have never liked me.”

“Don’t be silly—” Max began.

“Oh pish.” Peg’s exclamation stopped him in his tracks. “We’ve been married for twenty-five years. We certainly don’t need to rehash that old discussion. I am well and truly over the fact that your family disapproves of me for any number of reasons, not the least of which is that rather than producing a houseful of children, you and I ended up surrounded by Standard Poodles instead.”

“You can hardly be held accountable for that outcome,” Max replied with a twinkle in his eye. “Considering that the wedding present I got for you was the beginning of the Cedar Crest line.”

“Lovely, lovely Laurel.” Peg remembered their first Standard Poodle with enormous fondness. “A ten-week-old bundle of fluff and mischief with a shiny, black nose, beguiling eyes, and an old soul. I took one look and fell madly in love.”

“You weren’t the only one who was madly in love,” Max said.

Peg slanted her husband a look. Her memories of their courtship were decidedly different. She recalled pursuing Max ardently—right up until the day she had let him catch her.

“Don’t go mushy on me now,” she said. “At this late date, I refuse to believe that you’re really an old softie at heart.”

Max just grinned. He knew full well that no one ever convinced his wife of anything that hadn’t started out as her own idea.

“It’s amazing how far we’ve come since then,” said Peg. “And that here we are, so many years later, surrounded by Laurel’s descendants.”

She gazed around the tidy kennel with satisfaction. The area in which they were standing was part grooming space and part sitting room. Two walls were covered with win photos, eight-by-ten pictures taken at the variety of dog shows over the years where she and Max had handled numerous Cedar Crest Standard Poodles to their championships. A third wall contained an overflowing trophy cabinet. The fourth had floor-to-ceiling shelves, filled with t. . .