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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Private Investigator Comes Extra,
By sweetmolly (RICHMOND, VA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: This Dog for Hire: A Rachel Alexander and Dash Mystery (Hardcover)
This debut novel by dog trainer Carol Benjamin came as a pleasant surprise. I eyed it suspiciously wondering if I had another annoyingly clever animal helping out another scatterbrained girl/woman in a mystery with all the suspense of who ate the last piece of cake. In reality, P.I. Rachel Alexander is total New York, rough edges and all. Brilliantly trained pit bull (yes, pit bull) Dash is very refreshingly - a dog. He snores, begs for treats, slobbers, and steals the covers just like dogs you and I have known. All right, Rachel does get a little smug about his repertoire of skills, but other than that, he is ok. Dennis Keaton hires Rachel. His friend and neighbor, an artist, has been murdered via vehicular homicide and his champion basenji is missing. Dennis feels the police have chalked up the killing as a gay bashing and have lost interest. It turns out the artist was not starving in a garret; he was a very wealthy young man with a mysterious, handsome lover. He was to have his debut gallery opening the following week. Magritte, the basenji, is found under mysterious circumstances. The clues pile up with the motives apace and the culmination of the action takes place in Madison Square Garden at the annual Westminster Dog Show. The novel is seriously over-plotted with curious loose threads throughout. She takes the dog with her to do some serious sleuthing, but he is not with her when she comes home. She eloquently describes a Big Present she had to schlep to her sister's home, but that's the end of it. Present is neither acknowledged nor opened, at least in our presence. The good stuff is Rachel herself with her effortless dialogue, somewhat bawdy sense of humor and her easy interaction with all walks of life. Many of the characters are gay and the dialogue is realistic and brisk. The author does a good job of capturing New York ambience and just how miserable it can be in the wintertime. Rachel sees this terrible weather as a test of her devotion to all things New York. I found the sections on the insider's view of the premier Westminster Dog Show fascinating. "This Dog For Hire" is an excellent first effort and I will be looking for more of Rachel. She never gets on your nerves and is excellent company.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
For hard-boiled fans,
By
This review is from: This Dog for Hire (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
Most so-called hard-boiled mysteries written by women are really more medium-boiled and contain some elements of the cozy, but not this one. "This Dog for Hire" has too gritty and depressive an ambience for my taste. It's not all bad, though. The plot is clever enough, and the dogs are well-portrayed: Dash and Magritte are by far the most likable characters in the book and actually made it worth reading. I also enjoyed the inside look at the Westminster dog show. If you like both truly hard-boiled detective fiction and canines, you'll probably find this a good read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Dash than You're Probably Used To,
By Lee Charles Kelley "dog trainer/mystery novelist" (New York City) - See all my reviews
This review is from: This Dog for Hire (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)
Before I start I think I should tell you a few things: a) Carol Lea Benjamin and I both write dog mysteries for Harper Collins/William Morrow, b) we're both huge fans of Dashiell Hammett, and c) I totally disagree with her philosophy of dog training (I've said for years that the alpha theory is pure nonsense, and I've been proven right by some of the recent research that's been done on wild wolf packs).Okay, now that that's over with I can tell you that I read this novel when it first came out (when I was in the process of finishing the manuscript for my first dog mystery), and the stupid book kept me up all night. This woman is a damn fine writer and I don't care who knows it! The reason I've given my review the title I have is that I just read a couple of the reviews from readers here who found THIS DOG FOR HIRE boring! This is incomprehensible to me. I've read a lot of mystery novels and very few authors have the kind of power to pull me into a story the way Benjamin does. And the only thing I can think to say to those readers is that this book probably has a bit more "Dash" (double meaning) than they're probably used to. It is superbly written. So, if you like dogs, and you like tough female detectives who have a wry sense of humor, especially about themselves, I think you'll really like this book. A first-rate first novel from a truly first-rate mystery novelist.
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