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The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club Unleashed
2nd Edition: Unleashed -The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking CLub - Part 2 Four months after the disappearance of Tom Hudd from a leafy Savannah neighborhood, the members of an afternoon cocktail and dog walking club ponder his whereabouts; despite one of them knowing his true fate. Recently elected mayor Elliot Miller has new agendas, and just where is Doug Partridge? An old man's death bed memories recall his ultimate revenge, while Savannah Detective Jeff Morgan has been assigned to two missing person's cases and a years old murder that he believes already solved. Once again, though, a killer lurks and even more secrets unfold, as does an ever expanding web of deceit and lies. Who will die and who will live to see out the conclusion to a story of revenge, twists and murder? As before, the plot thickens, and the residents of Gordonston, all with deep hidden agendas, resume their plotting and desire for revenge and retribution; twists and turns lead the reader once again to a conclusion, and another sucker punch ending that will leave them breathless.
200 pages, Paperback
First published September 9, 2014
17 people want to read
About the author
Duncan Whitehead
24 books315 followersAward-winning writer Duncan Whitehead was born in England and is the author of the best-selling and award-winning GORDONSTON LADIES DOG WALKING CLUB Trilogy. The series, inspired by the quirky characters and eeriness in the real-life Savannah neighborhood in which he once lived, is a humorous mystery that boasts an assortment of characters and plot twists. The first book in this series won the 2013 Reader's Favorite Book Award for Comedy.
He has also written over 2,000 spoof and comedy news articles under various aliases for a variety of websites both in the US and the UK. Duncan now resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and has written further novels, including the four-book FOREST PINES MYSTERY SERIES and a stand-alone comedy, THE RELUCTANT JESUS, which won the 2014 Reader's Favorite Book Award for Comedy.
The final and fourth book in the FOREST PINES SERIES was released in December 2023, written after a four-year hiatus from writing. He is the author of the parody A COZY MYSTERY…WITH ZOMBIES!, which was released in January 2024. He has recently completed his next book, a comedy and parody entitled MURDER, SHE HOPED, and has commenced work on his next comedy/mystery, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT FLETCHER'S END.
Duncan is well known for his charity work and kindness to animals, children, and old people. His charity, 'Habitat for Hotties,' where he finds housing for retired Hooter's waitresses, was recently voted the least likely charity anyone would ever donate to. He has donated several organs to puppies and kittens and, to help save the planet does not leave a carbon footprint, as he only wears slippers. In February 2040, he invented time travel and now spends much of his time in either the future (where he has won the lottery an astonishing 117 times) or the present day. Attempts to return to 1985 and write The Harry Potter series of books have thus far failed.
He has also written over 2,000 spoof and comedy news articles under various aliases for a variety of websites both in the US and the UK. Duncan now resides in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and has written further novels, including the four-book FOREST PINES MYSTERY SERIES and a stand-alone comedy, THE RELUCTANT JESUS, which won the 2014 Reader's Favorite Book Award for Comedy.
The final and fourth book in the FOREST PINES SERIES was released in December 2023, written after a four-year hiatus from writing. He is the author of the parody A COZY MYSTERY…WITH ZOMBIES!, which was released in January 2024. He has recently completed his next book, a comedy and parody entitled MURDER, SHE HOPED, and has commenced work on his next comedy/mystery, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT FLETCHER'S END.
Duncan is well known for his charity work and kindness to animals, children, and old people. His charity, 'Habitat for Hotties,' where he finds housing for retired Hooter's waitresses, was recently voted the least likely charity anyone would ever donate to. He has donated several organs to puppies and kittens and, to help save the planet does not leave a carbon footprint, as he only wears slippers. In February 2040, he invented time travel and now spends much of his time in either the future (where he has won the lottery an astonishing 117 times) or the present day. Attempts to return to 1985 and write The Harry Potter series of books have thus far failed.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 25, 2014
“The Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club: Unleashed” by Duncan Whitehead is a long awaited sequel and one that does not disappoint.
Once again we are served a cocktail of clever plotting, comic and suspenseful entertainment and colourful characters in an intriguing and original setting.
This time we start with a secret nightly burial, setting the tone for the secretive and murderous atmosphere in the outwardly peaceful neighbourhood of Gordonston, Savannah. Who does not have a secret, hidden agenda or a mysterious past in this novel?
A lot is going on in the neighbourhood these days, for example. Elliott is running for Major, Cindy expects her nephew returning from Africa and the gossip still focuses on missing people and romantic liaisons – so life is busy as usual.
The same can be said for a certain organisation that, for a fee, will resolve some of your problems for you, and which – lately – is getting a lot of business from the Gordonston neighbourhood. images
“Unleashed” is fantastic as a sequel. It brings back some of the familiar and successful formula of intrigue, suspense, great characters and the hugely entertaining dynamics of the dog walking club; yet it introduces new characters, new themes and then blends them with the old through some unexpected twists, connections and turns of events. The plotting is excellently done and surprised me many times throughout reading the book. I would have been happy with a simple formula repetition since I enjoyed the first book so much, but Whitehead has simply used it as a stepping stone for a much more evolved and complex novel, unleashing the full potential of old and new. Threads you thought were tied up are not, so always expect the unexpected. There are some great stereotypes and hilarious moments but don’t fear that it is all mindless entertainment. Some characters show depth and serious reflections, adding a more thoughtful note and class to the story.
Sharp, witty and well written this should sweep awards and nominations as easily as its predecessor did. For fans of crime fiction with a humorous tone I couldn’t recommend this highly enough and this is saying something since I don’t often get excited over crime fiction.
Six out of five stars.
Once again we are served a cocktail of clever plotting, comic and suspenseful entertainment and colourful characters in an intriguing and original setting.
This time we start with a secret nightly burial, setting the tone for the secretive and murderous atmosphere in the outwardly peaceful neighbourhood of Gordonston, Savannah. Who does not have a secret, hidden agenda or a mysterious past in this novel?
A lot is going on in the neighbourhood these days, for example. Elliott is running for Major, Cindy expects her nephew returning from Africa and the gossip still focuses on missing people and romantic liaisons – so life is busy as usual.
The same can be said for a certain organisation that, for a fee, will resolve some of your problems for you, and which – lately – is getting a lot of business from the Gordonston neighbourhood. images
“Unleashed” is fantastic as a sequel. It brings back some of the familiar and successful formula of intrigue, suspense, great characters and the hugely entertaining dynamics of the dog walking club; yet it introduces new characters, new themes and then blends them with the old through some unexpected twists, connections and turns of events. The plotting is excellently done and surprised me many times throughout reading the book. I would have been happy with a simple formula repetition since I enjoyed the first book so much, but Whitehead has simply used it as a stepping stone for a much more evolved and complex novel, unleashing the full potential of old and new. Threads you thought were tied up are not, so always expect the unexpected. There are some great stereotypes and hilarious moments but don’t fear that it is all mindless entertainment. Some characters show depth and serious reflections, adding a more thoughtful note and class to the story.
Sharp, witty and well written this should sweep awards and nominations as easily as its predecessor did. For fans of crime fiction with a humorous tone I couldn’t recommend this highly enough and this is saying something since I don’t often get excited over crime fiction.
Six out of five stars.
September 20, 2017
First off, who spoils the ending of the first book in a series in the description of the second book of the series? The ending of book 1 would have been a much bigger surprise if I hadn't gone online to order the second book so I could read it immediately after finishing the first one. Ugh.
I normally hesitate to leave a bad review because I work with writers and I know how hard they work and how much of their heart is put into a book, but this book is an example of one of the major pitfalls of self-publishing. The first rule of self-publishing should be: Every writer needs an editor. Even if you're going to go it alone, you need an objective editor's eye to proofread, to tell you where your story is going off the rails, and how to strengthen it. The first book was fun. There is a kernel of a good story here in the second book, but there were so many typos, changes of tense, and repetitive phrases that it took me out of the story on almost every page. I can forgive a typo here or there, but this was literally every other page or more often. The phrase "of course" is repeated so many times. There were run-on sentences for days.
On the story side there were some things that didn't make sense either. The most egregious one was when the police chief is able to identify the remains of a body from just looking at a bone and a piece of cloth when he didn't have any prior interaction with the victim and wasn't the one who investigated the case. Literally, any other character in the novel would have had a more plausible explanation for being able to identify the remains this way. And, honestly, why not just insert a scene at the coroner's office with a DNA sample or something?
These are all things a quality editor could have helped fix very easily and this book would have been much more enjoyable. I implore the author to find a good editor and make them your new best friend. You have talent and the twists and turns are surprising, but it could be made so much better with a little help. It is worth the investment.
I normally hesitate to leave a bad review because I work with writers and I know how hard they work and how much of their heart is put into a book, but this book is an example of one of the major pitfalls of self-publishing. The first rule of self-publishing should be: Every writer needs an editor. Even if you're going to go it alone, you need an objective editor's eye to proofread, to tell you where your story is going off the rails, and how to strengthen it. The first book was fun. There is a kernel of a good story here in the second book, but there were so many typos, changes of tense, and repetitive phrases that it took me out of the story on almost every page. I can forgive a typo here or there, but this was literally every other page or more often. The phrase "of course" is repeated so many times. There were run-on sentences for days.
On the story side there were some things that didn't make sense either. The most egregious one was when the police chief is able to identify the remains of a body from just looking at a bone and a piece of cloth when he didn't have any prior interaction with the victim and wasn't the one who investigated the case. Literally, any other character in the novel would have had a more plausible explanation for being able to identify the remains this way. And, honestly, why not just insert a scene at the coroner's office with a DNA sample or something?
These are all things a quality editor could have helped fix very easily and this book would have been much more enjoyable. I implore the author to find a good editor and make them your new best friend. You have talent and the twists and turns are surprising, but it could be made so much better with a little help. It is worth the investment.
October 18, 2020
#2 of 3 and just as full of twists and turns as the first one....it is amazing! starting #3 tonight - my only problem was that there were a lot of proofing errors - they should have been caught - Maybe the author does his own proofing - some seemed to be caused because he doesn't write as fast as his mind is developing the story....I just LOVED it!
December 29, 2014
I was thrilled to discover the sequel to "Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club" was being published the very day I finished reading it!
Mr. Whitehead certainly spins a great, well-thought-out tale, even if it is full of over-the-top characters and the storyline is unlikely. The first book was so much fun to read and the characters were multi-faceted and interesting.
This sequel could be just as good as the first, except for one very disappointing flaw. It is extremely poorly edited, if it was edited at all. Full of inappropriate punctuation, awkward and incorrect tenses and sentence structure, as well as repetitive connectives in sentences. I was hopeful at first it would just be occasional, but it became more prevalent throughout the Kindle version.
Also, in the first book, Kelly's dog was named "Shmitty". In this sequal, he is referred to throughout as "Shimitty." There were a couple of times where personal pronouns and possessives were incorrectly used, referring to one of the women as "he", etc.
As I said, Mr. Whitehead does indeed spin an amusing tale. I would have otherwise rated this book a 4-star, but had to deduct a full star for the apparent lack of editing. The story itself, towards the end, also appears rather brusque and it seemed to me as if there was just a big push to get this out there for fans of the first story. It also just kind of dropped off, with a promise of a third book, which could actually be pushing it - to make this a trilogy.
If Mr. Whitehead is half as interesting as the tales he tells, then he must be very interesting indeed. I just hope that for the third book, he takes more time to edit before putting it out. Talent like that deserves to be portrayed to its fullest potential in a polished finished product.
Mr. Whitehead certainly spins a great, well-thought-out tale, even if it is full of over-the-top characters and the storyline is unlikely. The first book was so much fun to read and the characters were multi-faceted and interesting.
This sequel could be just as good as the first, except for one very disappointing flaw. It is extremely poorly edited, if it was edited at all. Full of inappropriate punctuation, awkward and incorrect tenses and sentence structure, as well as repetitive connectives in sentences. I was hopeful at first it would just be occasional, but it became more prevalent throughout the Kindle version.
Also, in the first book, Kelly's dog was named "Shmitty". In this sequal, he is referred to throughout as "Shimitty." There were a couple of times where personal pronouns and possessives were incorrectly used, referring to one of the women as "he", etc.
As I said, Mr. Whitehead does indeed spin an amusing tale. I would have otherwise rated this book a 4-star, but had to deduct a full star for the apparent lack of editing. The story itself, towards the end, also appears rather brusque and it seemed to me as if there was just a big push to get this out there for fans of the first story. It also just kind of dropped off, with a promise of a third book, which could actually be pushing it - to make this a trilogy.
If Mr. Whitehead is half as interesting as the tales he tells, then he must be very interesting indeed. I just hope that for the third book, he takes more time to edit before putting it out. Talent like that deserves to be portrayed to its fullest potential in a polished finished product.
July 14, 2015
I started reading this after I finished the first GLDWC because it was offered as a free read since I have Kindle Unlimited. I was pleasantly surprised. It was pretty good! So good, in fact, that I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the next book in this series to be released (Aug 15!). It was pretty shocking because at first, it seems like light reading, maybe even a little trashy, but Whitehead develops the characters very well and there is much more depth and complexity than I expected. So at first blush, you think "trashy summer book" but then when you're finished you think "HOLY SMOKES! That was REALLY really good!" Just to give you an idea: This series is so good that you'll stay up until 3am to finish a book it even if you have to be up at 5:30 with the baby.
October 24, 2014
Chaos escalates in this upscale Savannah neighborhood. These are definitely the kind of neighbors you hope you don’t have… Although everyone appears cordial on the surface, walking their dogs and exchanging friendly chatter, plots are brewing beneath the surface. Just when I was sure I knew what was going to happen next or that I knew who someone was after, the author would hurl another surprising twist my way. I read this book in one sitting, it was such an entertaining delight. My one suggestion is not to get too attached to anyone…and think twice before you gulp down that lemonade.
November 9, 2014
A very disappointing read compared to the first book about the Gordonston Ladies Dog Walking Club, which was full of biting humour. This had no humour or irony to it really. It flicked from one thing to another at a ridiculous pace but without bringing any of the mounting excitement that was surely the intention. Also the writing style was just incredibly annoying - the author made no use of contractions (it's, I'm, aren't...) which left all the dialogue sounding horribly stilted and awkward. So very disappointed.
February 26, 2015
nice read. funny. Its got everything. Southern ladies who drink and walk their doggies, Hitler and murder for hire on the Internet.
August 7, 2016
Awesome second instalment of these books. Loved it and ready to start part three.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews