Death in Show by Judi McCoy

In ten words or less: Dog handler drops dead in show ring; is it murder?

Review: Ellie Engleman is a dog walker, and one of her clients--Lulu, a Havanese--will be competing in a prestigious dog show. Flora Steinman, Lulu's wealthy owner, asks Ellie along to the dog show to watch the dog in the show ring. But Lulu's handler drops dead, and the police investigate.
Detective Sam Ryder, Ellie's sometime boyfriend, is on the scene. There are plenty of suspects--rival handlers, Flora, and even Ellie.

Why bother? The reason Ellie gets along so well with her charges is that she can communicate with the dogs--she talks to them, and they talk back. The dogs are more interesting characters than their owners, for the most part. Part chick lit, part cozy mystery, part Disney story--readers of Rita Mae Brown and Lauren Berenson's animal mysteries will want to check out Judi McCoy.