The story starts out with Melanie running interference between Eugene Krebbs, the school caretaker, and Jane, a mysterious girl who is not a student at the exclusive private academy. Before Melanie can question Jane about why she is at Howard and not in school, Krebbs chases her off.

Shortly after this incident Krebbs is murdered on school grounds, and Jane is the first to discover the body. Why would anyone want to murder the harmless, old school caretaker? How is Jane involved? Why are a number of the staff members behaving oddly? What does the history of the school founders have to do with any of this?

The main murder investigation made for interesting reading. It was the character development and dialogue that I found troublesome. Outside of Melanie, I felt that I never got to know the other characters in Hush Puppy. The secondary characters were plentiful and I lost track of who was who more than once, which perhaps is beside the point, since many of them were little more than window dressing.

The dialogue is also a bit problematic. This story takes place in Greenwich, Connecticut, but every time one of the lunch staff speaks it comes out southern. Maybe they’re from the south? But all of them? And if they’re supposed to be, it’s never explained. Jane talks like an average smart mouth 12-year-old, yet when she speaks to the police about Krebbs she’s suddenly mature and calm. I find it unlikely that a child who is initially reluctant to talk to a cop will suddenly behave so differently when the meeting takes place.

Melanie also enters Faith in dog shows, and by the second chapter Berenson immerses the reader in behind the stage preparations. I found this interesting, but sometimes it felt like I had to read the “b” word (you know, a female dog) every other paragraph. This may be an accepted term to use at dog shows, but I found that reading this word so often was very jarring.

What I found appealing about this addition in the series was Melanie, the murder investigation, and the subplots. It all led to a nicely paced mystery that I was never bored with. Reworking the dialogue and developing the secondary characters would have made this cozy a keeper.

--Wendy Crutcher