A Dog About Town
J.F. Englert
Dell, June 2007, $6.99, 304 pages, ISBN: 0440243637
reviewed by Harriet Klausner

Harry comes home from a séance to his dog Randolph and tells him that Lyell Overton has died while sitting in the bathroom. What Harry doesn’t know is that Randolph is no ordinary dog. He is a sentient being as smart as or more brilliant than his master. Both Randolph and Harry are drifting through life because two years ago, Imogen walked out of their apartment.

The death gives both beings an outside interest as they become obsessed with the murder (yes, he man was murdered) and finding out who the killer is. While visiting Harry’s friend Jack, Randolph learns from his pet, a Guatemalan tree sloth that Jackson was in the apartment where Overton was killed and he held a woman against the wall. They get permission from the owner of the apartment to see the place and Randolph smells something burnt in the bathroom even though there is nothing in the bathroom to show how he died. What follows is Randolph giving Harry a clue to follow that he hopes will eventually lead them to the killer without getting murdered themselves.

Although some might say that using a sentient dog as a sleuth is a gimmick but that is simply not true. Randolph is fantastic as he uses his canine senses and his intelligence to find a killer. Harry, even when he has proof of Randolph’s brains puts his intelligence down to a spirit guiding them. Readers learn what it is like to be a dog in a man’s world as J.F. Englert has written a two role mystery starring one of the most unique heroes in the genre.