Book Summary and Reviews of A Hell of a Dog by Carol Lea Benjamin

A Hell of a Dog by Carol Lea Benjamin

A Hell of a Dog

A Rachel Alexander and Dash Mystery

by Carol Lea Benjamin

  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • Published:
  • Jan 1998, 260 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Someone is killing off the great dog trainers of the world—and it's up to PI Rachel Alexander and her pit bull, Dash, to collar the murderer.

Rachel has just been hired as undercover security at a dog-training symposium at a posh Manhattan hotel. How can the Greenwich Village PI and her pit bull, Dashiell, turn down the hefty fee, plus free room and biscuits at the Ritz? All Rachel has to do is keep the peace among the competitive diva dog trainers who have come with their prize pooches from all corners of the globe.

She and Dash have barely infiltrated the festivities when they find out that one of the trainers, the self-proclaimed guru of a controversial obedience technique, has been electrocuted in his bathtub. The cops are calling it an accident. Until another trainer dies ... and then another. With suspects including a dog psychic and a behaviorist to the stars, Rachel discovers that it's the humans who need to be housebroken as she and Dash bring a serial killer to heel.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Expertly blending dog-training lore with an excellent and satisfying mystery." —Publishers Weekly

"The writing is excellent, as always, with a nice touch of humor and just the right amount of off-stage violence. . . . Recommended for all mystery collections." —Library Journal

"Boasts appealing human and canine characters . . . will satisfy anyone who enjoys pet mysteries . . . Benjamin reminds readers that, more often than we care to admit, humans are the 'dumb animal' in the people-pet equation." —Booklist

"Carol Lea Benjamin is as good at writing mysteries as she is at writing about dogs." —Laurien Berenson, author of Underdog

This information about A Hell of a Dog was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Carol Lea Benjamin

Carol Lea Benjamin is the author of the Rachel Alexander and Dash mystery novels, which feature a Greenwich Village–based private investigator and her pit bull sidekick. This Dog for Hire, the first book in the series, won the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel. Benjamin has also been a teacher, worked as a private investigator, trained dogs, and written dog-training manuals such as Mother Knows Best: The Natural Way to Train Your Dog. She lives in New York City with her husband and two dogs. 

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