The House on Bloodhound Land

The episodic sequel to Death in Bloodhound Red finds Georgia dog trainer Jo Beth Sidden coping with an enlarged staff and an upcoming week-long training seminar. Before the seminar begins, the sheriff asks her to check out a deputy he suspects of growing and selling marijuana. He also tells her about a local kidnapping that's pulled in the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Jo Beth hears that her abusive ex-husband, Bubba, who has vowed to harm her, has been paroled. While trying to keep herself and her students safe from him, she helps a friend's fiance retrieve buried money and gets a boyfriend of her own. An old friend, the security guard of the kidnapped man's firm, involves her in that case, too. While juggling responsibilities both large and small, Jo Beth recounts past triumphs of her 87 dogs and thoroughly describes the raising and training of bloodhounds. The fragmented story line here lacks the focused punch of the Lanier's debut, but Jo Beth's brash ingenuity and a wry sense of humor are intact. (July)