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Scent of Murder
Brenna Scott is the founder of a volunteer search team in Sacramento, California, a group of people with their specially trained dogs ready when needed. When a series of children go missing, however, the team is pitted against an especially clever and deeply evil opponent.
Brenna is horrified when the kidnapper makes contact with her via email. As the disturbing game escalates in intensity, children continue to disappear, and the search dogs keep their noses to the ground. Everyone hopes the canine crime fighters will turn up a clue before it's too late. These amazing animals proceed with loyalty and dedication and their training and talents prove instrumental in solving these horrendous crimes.
Brenna is horrified when the kidnapper makes contact with her via email. As the disturbing game escalates in intensity, children continue to disappear, and the search dogs keep their noses to the ground. Everyone hopes the canine crime fighters will turn up a clue before it's too late. These amazing animals proceed with loyalty and dedication and their training and talents prove instrumental in solving these horrendous crimes.
- GenresMystery
288 pages, Hardcover
First published July 11, 2001
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26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 20, 2021
Excellent story about dog search and rescue. Great mystery. Interesting characters. Loveable dogs.
November 9, 2023
From the start of the book you're thrown into the action right away. An interesting tale about search and rescue using dogs. The author is clearly very knowledgeable about search and rescue with dogs, and the overarching mystery was interesting. I found myself invested in Brenna and her dogs, and wanting to read more stories with her in it. The book contains a lot of interesting information about how rescue using dogs works, and it was a fun read.
There were just a few things keeping me from giving this book five stars. The first being the amount of characters. There had to be at least 60 different characters that either show up in the foreground or are mentioned in passing. They were all very hard to keep track of. The author didn't describe the physical traits of most of them and throughout the book I found myself going "Wait, who is that?". If the character wasn't white, she did mention that, though. A lot of the characters have nicknames which makes it more confusing. She also didn't really describe the main character, Benna's, physical traits and I'm unsure how old she was meant to be. I still wasn't sure on the last page how everyone fit in. With so many characters the motives of the bad guy(s) were confusing. I didn't really understand how a lot of the characters were connected.
There also was some technical stuff I wished the author would have cleared up. She obviously knows her stuff (the book jacket mentions she worked in dog search and rescue and her photo shows her with a dog that looks a lot like the one in the story). I wish she would have explained in detail the things she brings up that the average person might not know about dog search and rescue, like what is webbing?
Though I was confused I still really enjoyed the book. The subject was so interesting and I got invested in the mystery. I wanted to know whodunit and why. As it progressed I found the mystery more and more interesting. I really didn't want to put it down, and I'm excited to check out more work by this author.
There were just a few things keeping me from giving this book five stars. The first being the amount of characters. There had to be at least 60 different characters that either show up in the foreground or are mentioned in passing. They were all very hard to keep track of. The author didn't describe the physical traits of most of them and throughout the book I found myself going "Wait, who is that?". If the character wasn't white, she did mention that, though. A lot of the characters have nicknames which makes it more confusing. She also didn't really describe the main character, Benna's, physical traits and I'm unsure how old she was meant to be. I still wasn't sure on the last page how everyone fit in. With so many characters the motives of the bad guy(s) were confusing. I didn't really understand how a lot of the characters were connected.
There also was some technical stuff I wished the author would have cleared up. She obviously knows her stuff (the book jacket mentions she worked in dog search and rescue and her photo shows her with a dog that looks a lot like the one in the story). I wish she would have explained in detail the things she brings up that the average person might not know about dog search and rescue, like what is webbing?
Though I was confused I still really enjoyed the book. The subject was so interesting and I got invested in the mystery. I wanted to know whodunit and why. As it progressed I found the mystery more and more interesting. I really didn't want to put it down, and I'm excited to check out more work by this author.
July 25, 2011
I loved this book. It was very fast paced and I learned a lot about Search and Rescue dog teams.
Brenna Scott has recently moved from Texas to Sacramento, CA. While she (her dog Sabrina) and her boss are at a conference in Seattle she is called to help locate a missing girl. They do find her however other tragedy ensues.
Brenna learns that the person who kidnapped the little girl has kidnapped other 4-year old girls. He leaves them in situations where supposedly they could be found in time and saved but every time something has gone wrong and the girl has died.
Brenna and her search and rescue team have a hard time trying to catch the evil master mind behind the abductions and murders but they do finally succeed.
In amongst the mystery is some development of wonderfully rich characters and just plain fun. A great read!
Brenna Scott has recently moved from Texas to Sacramento, CA. While she (her dog Sabrina) and her boss are at a conference in Seattle she is called to help locate a missing girl. They do find her however other tragedy ensues.
Brenna learns that the person who kidnapped the little girl has kidnapped other 4-year old girls. He leaves them in situations where supposedly they could be found in time and saved but every time something has gone wrong and the girl has died.
Brenna and her search and rescue team have a hard time trying to catch the evil master mind behind the abductions and murders but they do finally succeed.
In amongst the mystery is some development of wonderfully rich characters and just plain fun. A great read!
October 22, 2018
Really enjoyed this book. This is the second read for me, I had bought it after the first, knowing I'd want to read it again. It kept me coming back, and staying up for "just one more chapter." Really enjoyed descriptions of the dog's actions, and the trust and teamwork of her team.
I highly recommend it for dog people, and mild thrill seekers.
I highly recommend it for dog people, and mild thrill seekers.
January 2, 2012
Well-written tale along lines of Johansen or Cornwell, but with S & R dogs. Min character is stalked by serial murderer. The killer is playing games, seeking revenge by killing small children.
October 6, 2016
I liked it - good balance of mystery and how the handler/dog relationship works. I am hoping to find out this is part of a series.....I think it would make a great series if it is not already.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews