Susan Conant - Animal Appetite

Table of Contents

BOTH DOG AND MYSTERY LOVERS KNOW A
CHAMPION WHEN THEY SEE ONE.

Carolyn G. Hart

Praise for Bride and Groom

A mystery that will appeal to dog lovers and readers who like a fantastic who-done-it. Midwest Book Review

Tastier than liver treats. [ Bride and Groom ] undoubtedly will teach readers something new about their canine companions. Booklist

The Dogfather

A hilarious parody of The Godfather ... extremely funny.

Midwest Book Review

The Wicked Flea

Sheer bliss awaits the dedicated dog lover.

Kirkus Reviews

Fun, fast-paced... an independent, witty protagonist... faced with the most eccentric and quirky of characters.

Publishers Weekly

Delightful and humorous. Midwest Book Review

Stud Rights

Humorous... acerbic. The Drood Review of Mystery

A frisky look at mayhem. Publishers Weekly

continued...

THE DOG LOVERS ANSWER
TO LILIAN JACKSON BRAUNS
THE CAT WHO SERIES.
Rocky Mountain News

More praise for Susan Conants
absolutely first-rate* series...

Conants dog lovers series... is a real tail-wagger.

The Washington Post

Hilarious. Los Angeles Times

A fascinating murder mystery and a very, very funny book... written with a fairness that even Dorothy Sayers or Agatha Christie would admire. Mobile Register

A fascinating look at the world of dogs... I loved it!

*Diane Mott Davidson

Dog lovers will lap this up. Publishers Weekly

Toss Ms. Conant a biscuit. If theres a class called dog mysteries, shes got a best of breed. Rendezvous

For lovers of dogs, people, and all-around good story-telling. Mystery News

Infused with intriguing bits of gossip and information about the insiders world of dogs. Pets Magazine

Conants readerswith ears up and alert
eyeseagerly await her next.
Kirkus Reviews

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

ANIMAL APPETITE

A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author

Copyright 1997 by Susan Conant.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

eISBN : 978-1-436-27729-7

Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The name BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the BERKLEY PRIME CRIME design
are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

To Kobi and RowdyFrostfield Firestars Kobuk, C.G.C., and Frostfield Perfect Crime, C.G.C., Th.D.:

Dog Lovers Mysteries by Susan Conant

A NEW LEASH ON LIFE
DEAD AND DOGGONE
A BITE OF DEATH
PAWS BEFORE DYING
GONE TO THE DOGS
BLOODLINES
RUFFLY SPEAKING
BLACK RIBBON
STUD RITES
ANIMAL APPETITE
THE BARKER STREET REGULARS
EVIL BREEDING
CREATURE DISCOMFORTS
THE WICKED FLEA
THE DOGFATHER

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmens hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

JUDGES 5:2427

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to Tina Fuller, Kathleen OMalley, and Carolyn Singer of the Haverhill Historical Society, Haverhill, Massachusetts, for help in researching the background of this book. For encouraging a dog writers interest in colonial history, I am especially grateful to John Demos.

Thanks also to Jean Berman, Judy Bocock, Fran Boyle, Dorothy Donohue, Fran Jacobs, Roseann Mandell, Emma Parsons, Geoff Stern, Margherita Walker, and my wonderful editor, Kate Miciak.

The late and greatly mourned Alaskan malamute called Attla (Canadian Ch. Black Ices Shear Force, W.T.D.X., W.W.P.D.X.) appears with the permission of his breeders and owners, Shilon and David Bedford, Black Ice Kennels.

CHAPTER 1

I fiirst encountered Hannah Duston on a bleak November Sunday afternoon when my car died in the dead center of Haverhill, Massachusetts. A handsome woman of monumental build, Hannah towered above me. She wore a long, flowing dress with sleeves to the wrists. Her hair fell in waves over broad shoulders and down a muscular back. With her right hand, she maintained what looked like a familiar grasp on a hatchet. Her left arm was outstretched to point an index finger of apparent accusation at my two Alaskan malamutes, who were relieving themselves within the precincts of the Grand Army of the Republic Park. The dogs ignored her. Rowdy, my male, continued to anoint a nearby tree, and Kimi, in the manner of dominant females, lifted her leg on a Civil War cannon directly ahead of Hannah, who stood frozen in her rigid, athletic pose. Although Hannah had every right to objectmy dogs were, after all, on her turfshe said nothing. Finding her bland expression impossible to read, I studied the massive stone base on which she stood:

HANNAH DUSTON
WAS CAPTURED
BY THE INDIANS
IN HAVERHILL
THE PLACE OF HER NATIVITY.
MAR. 15, 1697

A bas-relief showed a house from which two women were being led by a pair of men depicted as just what the words said, Indians, as opposed, for example, to Native Americans.

With the dogs now on short leads, I moved to Hannahs left, directly under her pointing finger. Here, eight children clustered behind a man on horseback. He aimed a gun at a half-naked and befeathered figure. I read: