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Susan Conant Books in Order

Find Susan Conant books in order, from Holly Winter dog mysteries to her food and cat mysteries, with short summaries, series guides, and where to start.

Last updated: July 5, 2026

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27 books

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Scratch the Surface

by Susan Conant

2005

Felicity Pride writes cat mysteries but knows little about real cats until a dead man and a feline show up at her door. Caring for the victim's cats pushes her into a case she can't quite resist.

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.

Steamed

by Susan Conant

2006

Foodie grad student Chloe Carter meets her ideal online date at a top restaurant, only to have him die before dessert. Her search for answers plunges her into Boston's competitive dining scene and toward chef Josh Driscoll.

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.

Simmer Down

by Susan Conant

2007

Josh's new restaurant, Simmer, should be Chloe's happy place, until a charity fundraiser ends in murder. With the weapon linked to Josh, Chloe starts picking through exes, egos, and restaurant secrets.

Turn Up the Heat

by Susan Conant

2008

When a Simmer waitress is found strangled in a seafood delivery truck, Chloe jumps in to clear her best friend's fiance. Missing kitchen gear and restaurant drama make the case even messier.

Fed Up

by Susan Conant

2009

Josh's shot at food TV turns deadly when a shopper's wife dies after eating his meal on camera. Chloe has to sort through rivals, pranks, and secrets while the pressure builds around her friend's wedding.

Cook the Books

by Susan Conant

2010

Short on money and nursing heartbreak, Chloe takes a job helping with a cookbook project built around Boston chefs. Then one of the chefs dies in a suspicious kitchen fire, and Chloe starts asking dangerous questions.

Two Vintage Holly Winter Stories

by Susan Conant

2010

This slim collection gathers two early Holly Winter short stories first written for a dog magazine. They deliver quick mysteries, familiar canine charm, and a nice visit with Holly before or between the novels.

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.

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.

Where should I start?

If you want Holly Winter from the beginning: A New Leash on DeathDead and DoggoneA Bite of Death
If you want a later dog-world favorite: Gone to the DogsStud RitesThe Barker Street Regulars
If you want culinary cozies written with Jessica Conant-Park: SteamedSimmer DownTurn Up the Heat
If you want the cat side of Conant's work: Scratch the Surface

Author bio

Susan Conant was born on May 20, 1946, in Massachusetts's Merrimack Valley, and she spent part of her childhood in Haverhill. Dogs were part of her life early on. Her father trained pointers, and that ordinary, hands-on closeness to animals would end up shaping the books she became known for.

In 1964 she moved to the Boston area to attend Radcliffe College. She studied social relations there and graduated summa cum laude in 1968. Later, she earned a doctorate in human development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, which gave her a very different kind of training, one that shows up in the way she watches people, families, and the stories people tell about themselves.

Before fiction took over, Conant worked as an educational researcher through much of the late 1970s and 1980s. That part of her life matters. Her mysteries may be cozy on the surface, but they are full of close observation, small power struggles, and the gap between what people say and what they actually do.

The turn toward mystery writing came through a dog. Conant later wrote that her first Alaskan malamute, Natasha, pushed her life in a new direction, and one evening at a dog training class gave her the spark for Holly Winter, the dog trainer and columnist who became her signature sleuth. The idea was simple and smart: write mysteries that took the dog world seriously, but also had room to laugh at human foolishness.

That became A New Leash on Death in 1990. It introduced Holly Winter and opened the long-running Dog Lover's Mysteries, the books most readers know Conant for. Titles such as Gone to the Dogs, Stud Rites, The Barker Street Regulars, and All Shots brought readers back not just for the crimes, but for Holly's voice, the Cambridge and Boston setting, and the feeling that the dogs in these books are real animals, not cute props.

Dogs are never just background in a Susan Conant novel.

That is a big part of her appeal. She writes about training, rescue, breeding, therapy work, and the strange social world that grows up around people who love animals intensely. Readers who stick with Holly Winter tend to like the mix of dry humor, very specific dog knowledge, and mysteries that grow out of everyday life, a class, a show, a missing pet, a bad client, a family mess.

Conant did not stay in one lane, though. Scratch the Surface introduced Felicity Pride, a cat-mystery writer who discovers that writing about cats is easier than dealing with real ones. She also teamed up with her daughter, Jessica Conant-Park, for the Gourmet Girl mysteries, beginning with Steamed and continuing through books like Simmer Down and Turn Up the Heat, lighter Boston-set stories built around food, dating, work, and murder.

She has also been active in Alaskan malamute rescue, and she has won multiple Maxwell awards from the Dog Writers Association of America. That says a lot about how closely the dog community followed her work, and how well she understood the world she was writing about.

Conant has long lived in Massachusetts, with later biographical notes placing her in Newton or near Boston with her husband, plus a household that still included cats and dogs. That feels fitting. Her books are so tied to New England streets, homes, parks, clinics, and training clubs that it is hard to imagine them growing anywhere else.

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.

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