Most Recommended Books

Track reading, wishlists & new-book alerts

Get
Skip to content
Share:

Dog Lover's Mysteries Books in Order

Part ofSusan Conant Books in Order

Browse the Dog Lover's Mysteries by Susan Conant in order, with Holly Winter summaries, series background, and help choosing the best place to start.

Last updated: July 5, 2026

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases (at no extra cost to you).

Dog Lover's Mysteries books in publication order

Sort:

20 books

1

A New Leash on Death

by Susan Conant

1990

In Holly Winter's first case, a murder at an obedience event turns a dog columnist and trainer into an amateur sleuth. With Rowdy, a stray malamute, newly in her life, Holly starts following the clues.

2

Dead and Doggone

by Susan Conant

1990

A missing wolf-dog, a murdered trainer, and a cruel scam pull Holly into the rougher side of the pet world. The deeper she digs into Cambridge's dog scene, the more dangerous the case becomes.

3

A Bite of Death

by Susan Conant

1991

Holly is called in to help with Kimi, a fierce Alaskan malamute whose owners keep dying under suspicious circumstances. Taking the dog into her own home means solving the case before the danger follows her there.

4

Paws Before Dying

by Susan Conant

1991

A top obedience handler dies during a thunderstorm, and everyone assumes it was a terrible accident. Holly, helped by Rowdy, Kimi, and cousin Leah, suspects the training world is hiding something uglier.

5

Bloodlines

by Susan Conant

1992

A tip about a malamute puppy sends Holly into a mall pet shop she already distrusts. After the owner is murdered and another dog vanishes, Holly uncovers cruelty, fraud, and dangerous breeding secrets.

6

Gone to the Dogs

by Susan Conant

1992

When a local veterinarian and a pampered pet disappear, Holly and Steve Delaney start digging through the Cambridge dog scene. The case leads from training-club politics to a crime that feels alarmingly personal.

7

Black Ribbon

by Susan Conant

1994

A week at a fancy dog camp in Maine sounds like heaven for Holly and Rowdy. Then backstabbing, a threatening condolence card, and a suspicious death turn the retreat into a canine summer from hell.

8

Ruffly Speaking

by Susan Conant

1994

Holly meets Ruffly, a hearing dog with a sharp mind and a worried owner, while questions still linger around an earlier death. When the dog begins reacting to something no one else notices, Holly follows the lead.

9

Stud Rites

by Susan Conant

1996

At the Alaskan Malamute National Specialty Show, Holly expects competition, gossip, and nerves, not murder. When an elderly judge is killed, the close-knit dog-show world becomes a very tight circle of suspects.

10

Animal Appetite

by Susan Conant

1997

A bet to write about something other than dogs sends Holly into an old death that may never have been suicide. Her new subject quickly turns into a live mystery with fresh reasons for someone to stay quiet.

11

Evil Breeding

by Susan Conant

1999

Holly's new book project on the grand old Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge dog shows opens doors to buried grudges and fresh danger. What starts as research soon becomes a murder investigation with a very long memory.

12

The Barker Street Regulars

by Susan Conant

1999

Rowdy's work as a therapy dog leads Holly to a Cambridge nursing home and a trio of sharp elderly Sherlock Holmes fans. When a relative of one resident is murdered, the group takes up the case.

13

Creature Discomforts

by Susan Conant

2000

After a fall on a mountain in Acadia leaves her with amnesia, Holly has to figure out who she is before she can solve anything else. A suspicious death nearby suggests her accident was no accident at all.

14

The Wicked Flea

by Susan Conant

2002

Still recovering from a serious head injury, Holly tries to settle back into ordinary life with her dogs. Then a difficult local dog owner is found dead, and Holly is pulled into another case she can't ignore.

15

The Dogfather

by Susan Conant

2003

Mob boss Enzio Guarini hires Holly to train his new elkhound puppy, a job that sounds risky before anyone dies. Once his right-hand man turns up dead, Holly is trapped between a vendetta and a very dangerous family.

16

Bride & Groom

by Susan Conant

2005

Days before her wedding to veterinarian Steve Delaney, Holly gets drawn into a murder case involving women in the dog world. Juggling nerves, danger, and a possible serial killer makes this no ordinary trip to the altar.

17

Gaits of Heaven

by Susan Conant

2006

Holly agrees to train Dolfo, an unruly designer dog owned by a pair of quirky therapists. When one of them dies in what looks like an overdose, Holly gets pulled into a messy family mystery.

18

All Shots

by Susan Conant

2007

Asked to help find Strike, a missing Siberian husky, Holly instead stumbles into a stranger case involving a dead woman who shares her name. The trail leads through identity theft, drugs, and the darker edges of the dog world.

19

Brute Strength

by Susan Conant

2011

Holly makes enemies when she turns away people who want to adopt rescued dogs. Anonymous threats, suspicious deaths, and trouble close to home force her to lean on Rowdy, Kimi, and Sammy.

20

Sire and Damn

by Susan Conant

2015

Holly helps her pregnant friend Rita through a chaotic Cambridge wedding as feuding, secretive relatives crowd the house. When a break-in turns deadly, Holly trusts the dogs more than the people and starts sorting lies from facts.

Dog Lover's Mysteries books in chronological order

  1. Book cover for "A New Leash on Death"

    A New Leash on Death

    by Susan Conant

    1990Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 1
  2. Book cover for "Dead and Doggone"

    Dead and Doggone

    by Susan Conant

    1990Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 2
  3. Book cover for "A Bite of Death"

    A Bite of Death

    by Susan Conant

    1991Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 3
  4. Book cover for "Paws Before Dying"

    Paws Before Dying

    by Susan Conant

    1991Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 4
  5. Book cover for "Gone to the Dogs"

    Gone to the Dogs

    by Susan Conant

    1992Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 5
  6. Book cover for "Bloodlines"

    Bloodlines

    by Susan Conant

    1992Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 6
  7. Book cover for "Ruffly Speaking"

    Ruffly Speaking

    by Susan Conant

    1994Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 7
  8. Book cover for "Black Ribbon"

    Black Ribbon

    by Susan Conant

    1994Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 8
  9. Book cover for "Stud Rites"

    Stud Rites

    by Susan Conant

    1996Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 9
  10. Book cover for "Animal Appetite"

    Animal Appetite

    by Susan Conant

    1997Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 10
  11. Book cover for "Evil Breeding"

    Evil Breeding

    by Susan Conant

    1999Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 11
  12. Book cover for "The Barker Street Regulars"

    The Barker Street Regulars

    by Susan Conant

    1999Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 12
  13. Book cover for "Creature Discomforts"

    Creature Discomforts

    by Susan Conant

    2000Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 13
  14. Book cover for "The Wicked Flea"

    The Wicked Flea

    by Susan Conant

    2002Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 14
  15. Book cover for "The Dogfather"

    The Dogfather

    by Susan Conant

    2003Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 15
  16. Book cover for "Bride & Groom"

    Bride & Groom

    by Susan Conant

    2005Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 16
  17. Book cover for "Gaits of Heaven"

    Gaits of Heaven

    by Susan Conant

    2006Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 17
  18. Book cover for "All Shots"

    All Shots

    by Susan Conant

    2007Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 18
  19. Book cover for "Brute Strength"

    Brute Strength

    by Susan Conant

    2011Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 19
  20. Book cover for "Sire and Damn"

    Sire and Damn

    by Susan Conant

    2015Dog Lover's Mysteries, Book 20

Series background & context

At the center of the Dog Lover's Mysteries is Holly Winter, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, dog trainer and magazine columnist who knows canine behavior down to the last twitch of an ear. In A New Leash on Death, what starts as everyday life in the obedience world turns into murder, and that setup tells you a lot about the series. These books begin with dogs, dog people, and dog routines, then show how quickly those worlds can go sideways.

Holly's closest companions are her Alaskan malamutes, especially Rowdy and Kimi, and later Sammy. They are not cartoon sidekicks, and they do not solve cases by magic. What they do is even better. They behave like real dogs, with their own habits, loyalties, frustrations, and sudden flashes of instinct, and Holly is good at noticing what their behavior says about the humans around them.

The setting matters a lot. Conant uses Cambridge and the wider Boston area as a lived-in map of training clubs, veterinary offices, cramped apartments, dog shows, rescue networks, parks, and intensely opinionated households. Some books head farther afield, to Maine camps, national breed shows, or wealthy summer communities, but the series always feels anchored in a very specific dog world. If you like stories that know the details of a subculture from the inside, this series does that well.

These are real dog books.

A big part of the appeal is Holly herself. She is funny, stubborn, nosy, and deeply serious about animal welfare. Her relationship with veterinarian Steve Delaney develops across the books, and recurring figures like cousin Leah, her father Buck, and a rotating cast of breeders, handlers, and clients make the series feel cumulative. The murders are usually self-contained, but the personal story moves forward, which is one good reason to read in order.

People lie. Dogs usually don't.

That makes the tone interesting. The series is cozy in the sense that it stays close to community, conversation, and amateur detection, but Conant is also interested in rescue work, bad breeding practices, vanity, money, and the ways people use animals to show off or hide. Books like Gone to the Dogs, Stud Rites, The Barker Street Regulars, and All Shots all spring from different corners of that world, yet they share the same core pleasure, Holly reading human trouble through canine eyes. If you want the fullest payoff, start with A New Leash on Death and keep going from there.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

Comments

Did we miss something? Have feedback?

Help us improve this page by sharing your thoughts

We only use your email to notify you about replies.

All comments are moderated.

Discover and track your reading on the go

Track your reading, manage wishlists, and get notified when new books are added.