"colorful and intriguing amateur sleuth mystery"

Ted and Eumie won training lessons for their golden Aussie hiskapoo at the Cambridge Dog Training Club. Holly Winter feels responsible for their good natured but untrained and not housebroken Dolfo since she was the one who convinced the club to offer the free lessons. She volunteers to train the Green's dog but at one of the very first lessons, Holly finds Eumie dead in her bed.

The police believe she was murdered because powerful drugs were found in a health drink that only she imbibed. Eumi's daughter Caprice, who can't stand her stepfather or stepbrother Wyeth, goes to live with Holly, her husband Steve and their five dogs. The remaining Greens are severely dysfunctional and infested by a plethoric of various mental health care needs. Wyeth is perhaps the most troubled of all and his actions lead to a group meeting consisting of anyone connected to the Greens including the killer.

Susan Conant is well known for her colorful and intriguing amateur sleuth mysteries. In addition to telling a great story, she deals with social issues that are relevant today and in GAITS OF HEAVEN the biggest issue she addresses is the over medication of doctors who don't communicate with their peers so they never fully know what pills their clients are taking. The plot is fast paced, the characters are hot and eccentric, and the dogs stealthily steal the show as is typical in a Ms. Conant tale.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 26, 2006

Summary

Praised for its eccentric and quirky characters, Susan Conant's hilarious series now finds dedicated dog trainer Holly Winter following the tracks of an odd breed of pup to an even stranger breed of human—when she's enlisted to rein in a dysfunctional New Age couple's over-spirited Aussie huskapoo. But when the wife succumbs to an accidental overdose of mixed meds, Holly becomes embroiled in the family's dirty little secrets, especially when the victim's daughter convinces Holly that it was murder.