Dog writer (Dog's Life columnist) Holly Winter is challenged to write about people for a change and decides to research the story of a frontier woman who escaped her Indian captors to return home a heroine. She finds a lot more to the story than the heroic legend, and also gets interested in another mystery, the story of a man murdered eighteen years ago with his dog as witness. Holly and her two malamutes, Rowdy and Kimi, are always fun to visit. The mystery in this one is particularly interesting, though the coincidences that start her two separate investigations were a bit hard to take. And I don't mind a little "preaching" if I agree with it, such as: "Steve got called away on an emergency caused, as usual, by yet another Cambridge intellectual who hadn't been able to endure the prospect of depriving her dog of his so-called freedom to be a dog -- his natural right to savor the ultimate canine experience of being crushed by a car -- and now expected Steve to repair the damage that was her own damned fault. In cynical moments, I wonder why these dog-murdering romantics bother to let their dogs run loose. It would be altogether simpler and easier if these people would just get in their cars and run over their dogs themselves. The effect would be the same, really, only the owners would have slightly more control than they do now over which body parts get destroyed and whether the dogs live or die."
If you love great mysteries, you'll love the next installment in the Holly Winter Dog Lovers series. In this one, Holly's researching Hannah Duston, a 40-year-woman who have been an Indian captive and scalped 10 Indian children. She learned about her family history and her captivity, while she's on a cold case of Jack Andrews, who have been murdered 18 years ago, and his dog, Chip. From there, she learned about his family and the people who associated it, even with the murder of Shaun McGrath. Pretty soon, Holly learns a parallel between Hannah and Jack, when there's a connection between them, that someone wanted to kill them for it, and even for Holly herself. But can Holly find out who done it, when before she's nex t in line? A great quick read.
