The Trojan Dog: A Mystery (Sandra Mahoney Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Dorothy Johnston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 2005 | Series: Sandra Mahoney Mysteries

I should ask your department's accountant whether he's missing nine hundred thousand bucks

This is the anonymous message that changes Sandra Mahoney's life

After taking time off to raise her young son, Sandra Mahoney is nervously re-entering the working week. When a powerful Australian bureaucrat-and friend of her dead mother-offers her a position, she leaps at the chance. Then, days later, this woman is accused of theft and computer fraud. Sandra, out of obligation and friendship-and convinced that the charges are false-begins to investigate the supposed theft.

In a battle of wits, she finds herself up against an elusive and unscrupulous opponent as she desperately searches for the truth. As Mahoney delves deeper into the investigation, she realizes this is a battle where no one's allegiance can be taken for granted. She must learn to juggle her work with the demands of raising her children to finally get to the truth behind this compelling case of computer crime, loyalty and betrayal.

The Trojan Dog is the remarkable, award-winning first book about investigator Sandra Mahoney. Author Dorothy Johnston explores Mahoney's struggles balancing her life as a mother with her career in the law against a backdrop of a city-and a country-on the cusp of political change.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Australian author Johnston's literary, character-driven crime debut explores white-collar corruption as well as a modern woman's personal transformation. Sandra Mahoney, a self-described "wife on pause," is feeling stifled after her husband departs Australia to work in the States for a year, leaving her behind to take care of their young son. Sandra takes a job at Canberra's Department of Labor Relations, where she oversees a report on discriminatory wage practices against home-based workers. Her boss, the cool and reserved Rae Evans, has been suspected of siphoning off department money by illegally adjusting a large grant given to a bogus company. Convinced that Evans has been framed, Sandra devotes herself to quietly investigating the case. Readers will applaud as she comes into her own, aided by a gregarious and eccentric co-worker, Ivan Semyonov, who soon becomes her lover. Though there are a lot of interesting technical details about computer hacking and fraud, the sluggish, murder-free plot may frustrate some American mystery readers. Another weak point is a largely unexplored plot strand involving Rae and Sandra's now-deceased mother. Still, to quote from Ken Bruen's blurb, Sandra is "a terrific creation and achingly real."
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Review

International Praise for The Trojan Dog:

"The investigator, a mother with all the burdens of modern life, is a terrific creation and achingly real."
- Ken Bruen, author of The Killing of the Tinkers

"A page-turner."
- The Canberra Times (Australia)

"The Trojan Dog is a thriller that deals in emotions and ideas while offering the reader a pacy, political plot. (It is) a subtle absorbing piece about an ordinary woman who is deeply affected by what she uncovers in others and herself. Johnston is an exceptionally good writer."
- The Age (Australia)

"Johnson's prose is bright, feisty and distinguished."
- Bob Hefner, The Canaberra Times (Australia)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (February 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312332475
• ISBN-13: 978-0312332471
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,530,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars super investigative tale, February 26, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Trojan Dog: A Mystery (Sandra Mahoney Mysteries) (Hardcover)

While her husband Derek is in America for a year, Sandra Mahoney struggles with helping her eight years old son Peter cope with reading while returning to the workforce after several years as a stay at home mom. She gets a civil servant job with the Australian Labor Relations Service Department Industries Branch whose unpopular director Rae Evans was a friend of her deceased mother.

However, her peers except for the zany Ivan Semyonov make it evident they do not want her here; each fears for their job with the government changing parties as this branch is probably going out of existence. Canberra Times reporter Gail Tremboth calls Sandra as they were college cronies to ask about Rae. An email the paper received insists that Rae embezzled $900K by adding a zero to a grant check and has committed computer fraud. Sandra, remembering her mother's motto of loyalty to friends, believes her boss is innocent and tries to prove she is right with only Ivan helping her as everyone else in the office wants Sandra to take the fall even if she proves to be innocent.

THE TROJAN DOG is a terrific Australian amateur sleuth starring a delightful protagonist, a fabulous support cast who makes the office seem real, and a fantastic look at Canberra. Though Sandra feels the world caving in on her with her spouse overseas, her son struggling with school, and her new job probably ending when the government switches leadership, she believes strongly in doing what she perceives is the right thing by not just standing loyally with Rae, but actively proving she did not commit the crimes. Dorothy Johnston provides a super investigative tale that readers will value.

Harriet Klausner