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Without a Word: A Rachel Alexander Mystery (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries)
 
 
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Without a Word: A Rachel Alexander Mystery (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Carol Lea Benjamin (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Book Description

June 27, 2006 Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries

Private investigator Rachel Alexander and her pit bull Dashiell return in this stylish, dark, emotionally complex seventh mystery from former detective and noted dog trainer Carol Lea Benjamin.

When a distraught father approaches private investigator Rachel Alexander in a New York City park, asking her to help find his missing wife, Rachel accepts––reluctantly. After all, the chances of finding a woman who disappeared without a trace––and without a word––five years earlier are slim. But it's the missing woman's daughter who touches her most deeply––a troubled young girl whose mother's disappearance has rendered her mute. The child is also suspected of the murder of her doctor, a rich neurologist who was brutally stabbed one night while he was alone in his office. Rachel knows the disturbed girl can't be a murderer, but her investigation reveals that against all odds, it could be someone from her past. And against a backdrop of betrayal, neglect, and a city at times as lonely and frightening as a child's worst nightmares, Rachel's involvement in the case uncovers issues more complex, and more heartbreaking, than she's ever seen––problems that someone was willing to die, or even kill, for.


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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Silence speaks volumes in Benjamin's heartfelt eighth Rachel Alexander mystery (after 2004's Fall Guy), a complex portrait of a severely damaged child and her emotionally cut-off father. The Greenwich Village PI agrees to search for photograper Leon Spector's wife, Sally, who five years earlier took the dog for a walk and never came back. Sally left behind her bereft husband and daughter, Madison, a precocious child who stopped talking three days later. Leon and Madison's obvious pain draws Rachel to them. Suffering from a nervous disorder, the girl has been in therapy with Dr. Erich Bechman, who has used botox to stop her tics. When Bechman turns up dead, apparently stabbed with a syringe following one of Madison's outbursts, the police assume she's the culprit. Leon hopes against hope that Sally's return will cause the girl to speak at least enough to tell what happened. Certain that the girl is innocent, Rachel determines to track down the real killer. In the process, she gives voice to the problems of many people caught up in circumstances beyond their control, for whom only desperate measures seem the answer.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This eighth entry in the Rachel Alexander series showcases the heroine's ample brains, tough facade, and big heart. In this outing, private investigator Rachel accepts an assignment from gloomy photographer Leon, whose wife, Sally, walked out on him and their daughter, Madison, five years earlier. Shortly after her mother's disappearance, Madison stopped talking and has not said a word since. When Madison is accused of killing her doctor, Leon hires Rachel to find Sally, hoping knowledge of her mother's fate might influence Madison to speak and defend herself. The case takes on a deeply personal feeling when Madison's plight reminds Rachel of her own troubled childhood. Benjamin captures the mood of New York City effectively, and she writes in a fast-paced, matter-of-fact style that is perfectly matched to her protagonist and the setting. And, of course, Benjamin's experience as a dog trainer gives extra panache to her portrayal of Rachel's relationship with her pit bull, Dashiell. An entertaining series for anyone who loves female sleuths, New York, or pit bulls. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Avon (June 27, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 006053902X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060539023
  • Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #434,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The best Rachel Alexander novel yet!, September 12, 2005
By 
I highly, highly recommend this book. I have read all the other Rachel Alexander and Dashiell books and this is the best by far!!! It is very well written and I fell in love with Madison, the little lost girl in the book. She touched my soul, as she did Rachel Alexander's. If you have not read all the other books, that is okay...this book can stand by itself.

If you love mysteries with good character development, and a plot that engrosses you to the point that you do not want to put down the book until you finish, then this is the book for you.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Good general mystery, but..., September 10, 2005
By 
PenneyL (Fitchburg, MA United States) - See all my reviews
...if you are reading the series for the "dog" aspect, which I am since the author is one of the few writing mysteries which include dogs who actually KNOWS dogs, you should be aware that Dashiell is pretty much just an "accessory after the fact" in this one. I'd probably give it another star otherwise because as a mystery it's pretty good, but I read a lot of mysteries and from this series I look for a working partnership between Rachel and Dash in addition to the "mystery".
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Mystery with Literary Merit, February 21, 2006
By 
"Without a Word" is more than just a page-turner (although turn the pages you will). Benjamin was created indelible characters, places that are real and vivid, a mood that's equal parts brooding, disturbing and exciting. If you're often let down by the abrupt, unbelievable conclusions of most mysteries, read this book. The ending lingers long after you've finished.
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First Sentence:
Leon Spector had dead written all over him, not the kind where they put you in a box, say a few words and toss the earth back over you, not the ashes-to-ashes kind of dead, but the kind that lets the world know that whatever the battle was, you lost, the kind that says that sometime, a long time ago, you were beaten into the ground by circumstances beyond your control. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Charles Abele, Washington Square Park, Eric Bechman, Celia Abele, Madison Spector, Leon Spector, Long Key, Sally Bruce, Coney Island, Greenwich Street, Laura Edelstein, New Jersey, North Carolina, Louise Peach, Bethune Street, Hudson Street, Sally Russell, Sally Spector, Theo Fowler
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