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The Wrong Dog
(2000)(The fifth book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash series)
A novel by Carol Lea Benjamin
Laurie Davie - Romantic Times
This is one of the best P.I. series around. I love Rachel and Dash! They've got attitude, smarts and compassion in spades. Benjamin, who's been both a dog trainer and a P.I., knows her stuff and spins a fascinating tale.
Publisher's Weekly
In this fifth outing for Greenwich Village PI Rachel Alexander and her pit bull, Dashiell, Benjamin continues the vivid prose, breakneck plotting and concern for contemporary issues that brought her the Shamus Award for 1996's This Dog for Hire. When Rachel agrees to meet Sophie Gordon in Washington Square Park, Dash has a ball playing with Sophie's young bullterrier, Bianca. Rachel's afternoon is far less simple, as Sophie's hard-to-swallow tale unfolds: she's an epileptic who lucked into a seizure-alert dog--one who can warn Sophie in time to take medication. Two years earlier, a woman approached Sophie at the park, saying she represented a charity that could clone Sophie's dog, Blanche--but it had to be kept secret. Sophie would get one puppy and the others would help other epileptics. Bianca is that puppy, and she's the exact image of the aging Blanche, resting on Sophie's lap. But Bianca can't tell when Sophie is about to have a seizure--and Sophie can't find the agency to report that Blanche's lifesaving ability didn't pass to her clone. The day after their meeting, Sophie is murdered and Rachel and Dash are propelled into a dangerous search for her killer with help (or is it?) from Sophie's odd dog-walker. Rachel's New York savvy and big heart are appealing, and there's nothing coy or anthropomorphic about how Benjamin, a dog-trainer herself, portrays animals. There's almost too much action at the end, but overall this is a crackling good story even non-dog-lovers will enjoy. Agent, Brandt and Brandt. Mystery Guild alternate selection. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Sophie Gordon, worried about her gifted-but-aging epilepsy-alert service dog, falls for a line that her dog can be cloned. When the puppy subsequently given to her comes up lacking, she asks series heroine Rachel Alexander (A Hell of a Dog) to investigate. Rachel must soon investigate Sophie's death as well. Another treat for fans. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
Adult/High School-In their latest outing, the New York City detective duo of dog trainer and trained dog get involved with a missing-person case that transmogrifies into a murder case and ends as a medical-ethics case. Hired by an epileptic teacher of deaf children to find the agency that supposedly cloned her seizure-alert bulldog, Rachel and Dash stay on the case after the woman is murdered. While aspects of Rachel's character rely on information from previous titles in the series, Dash and the canines introduced in the story at hand are fully realized. There are sufficient red herrings to keep avid detective fans interested, but nothing so clever as to scare away readers new to the genre. The ethical issue of cloning is placed in the spotlight in all its complexity, including a surprisingly creepy ending that goes beyond the issue of dog replication. The science of cloning, as well as the educational setting in which the victim works, seems removed from factual accuracy, but the issues-nature versus nurture, the constraints placed on severely epileptic persons, the devotion a good teacher earns from her students-are quite credibly developed. And the dogs are all genuinely man's-and woman's-best friends.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
What if man's best friend could have more lives than a cat? In this fifth adventure for p.i. Rachel Alexander (Lady Vanishes, 1999, etc.) and her pit-bull companion Dashiell, Sophie Gordon, a teacher of the deaf, learns the dire consequences of the promise that her dog Blanche can be cloned. Sophie is subject to epileptic seizures, and Blanche is a service dog, alert to Sophie's condition and able to fetch her medicine if necessary. Some time ago Sophie was approached by Lorna West, from an organization called Side by Side, which is eager to clone Blanche. Sophie agreed, and in due time got Blanche back along with Bianca, one of her three clones. Unfortunately, Bianca lacks Blanche's sensitivity to Sophie's seizures. Though she's anxious to inform Side by Side of this shortcoming, Sophie can't find them, so she hires Rachel to track them down. No sooner does she take the job, though, than Rachel finds Sophie dead in her apartment, Blanche and Bianca at her side. What first appears to be the result of a seizure proves to be caused by poisoned medication. Rachel tries to find a family member or friend of Sophie's to care for her dogs, with no success. She has no luck in finding Side by Side, either-until they find her, with near-fatal results. Reasonably cohesive early plotting lapses into a confusion of out-of-nowhere characters, a slew of silly, reckless moves on Rachel's part, and a flat, unconvincing finish, making this outing a safe bet only for the most hopeful, and uncritical, dog lovers. Mystery Guild alternate selection
Genre: Mystery
This is one of the best P.I. series around. I love Rachel and Dash! They've got attitude, smarts and compassion in spades. Benjamin, who's been both a dog trainer and a P.I., knows her stuff and spins a fascinating tale.
Publisher's Weekly
In this fifth outing for Greenwich Village PI Rachel Alexander and her pit bull, Dashiell, Benjamin continues the vivid prose, breakneck plotting and concern for contemporary issues that brought her the Shamus Award for 1996's This Dog for Hire. When Rachel agrees to meet Sophie Gordon in Washington Square Park, Dash has a ball playing with Sophie's young bullterrier, Bianca. Rachel's afternoon is far less simple, as Sophie's hard-to-swallow tale unfolds: she's an epileptic who lucked into a seizure-alert dog--one who can warn Sophie in time to take medication. Two years earlier, a woman approached Sophie at the park, saying she represented a charity that could clone Sophie's dog, Blanche--but it had to be kept secret. Sophie would get one puppy and the others would help other epileptics. Bianca is that puppy, and she's the exact image of the aging Blanche, resting on Sophie's lap. But Bianca can't tell when Sophie is about to have a seizure--and Sophie can't find the agency to report that Blanche's lifesaving ability didn't pass to her clone. The day after their meeting, Sophie is murdered and Rachel and Dash are propelled into a dangerous search for her killer with help (or is it?) from Sophie's odd dog-walker. Rachel's New York savvy and big heart are appealing, and there's nothing coy or anthropomorphic about how Benjamin, a dog-trainer herself, portrays animals. There's almost too much action at the end, but overall this is a crackling good story even non-dog-lovers will enjoy. Agent, Brandt and Brandt. Mystery Guild alternate selection. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Sophie Gordon, worried about her gifted-but-aging epilepsy-alert service dog, falls for a line that her dog can be cloned. When the puppy subsequently given to her comes up lacking, she asks series heroine Rachel Alexander (A Hell of a Dog) to investigate. Rachel must soon investigate Sophie's death as well. Another treat for fans. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
Adult/High School-In their latest outing, the New York City detective duo of dog trainer and trained dog get involved with a missing-person case that transmogrifies into a murder case and ends as a medical-ethics case. Hired by an epileptic teacher of deaf children to find the agency that supposedly cloned her seizure-alert bulldog, Rachel and Dash stay on the case after the woman is murdered. While aspects of Rachel's character rely on information from previous titles in the series, Dash and the canines introduced in the story at hand are fully realized. There are sufficient red herrings to keep avid detective fans interested, but nothing so clever as to scare away readers new to the genre. The ethical issue of cloning is placed in the spotlight in all its complexity, including a surprisingly creepy ending that goes beyond the issue of dog replication. The science of cloning, as well as the educational setting in which the victim works, seems removed from factual accuracy, but the issues-nature versus nurture, the constraints placed on severely epileptic persons, the devotion a good teacher earns from her students-are quite credibly developed. And the dogs are all genuinely man's-and woman's-best friends.-Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
What if man's best friend could have more lives than a cat? In this fifth adventure for p.i. Rachel Alexander (Lady Vanishes, 1999, etc.) and her pit-bull companion Dashiell, Sophie Gordon, a teacher of the deaf, learns the dire consequences of the promise that her dog Blanche can be cloned. Sophie is subject to epileptic seizures, and Blanche is a service dog, alert to Sophie's condition and able to fetch her medicine if necessary. Some time ago Sophie was approached by Lorna West, from an organization called Side by Side, which is eager to clone Blanche. Sophie agreed, and in due time got Blanche back along with Bianca, one of her three clones. Unfortunately, Bianca lacks Blanche's sensitivity to Sophie's seizures. Though she's anxious to inform Side by Side of this shortcoming, Sophie can't find them, so she hires Rachel to track them down. No sooner does she take the job, though, than Rachel finds Sophie dead in her apartment, Blanche and Bianca at her side. What first appears to be the result of a seizure proves to be caused by poisoned medication. Rachel tries to find a family member or friend of Sophie's to care for her dogs, with no success. She has no luck in finding Side by Side, either-until they find her, with near-fatal results. Reasonably cohesive early plotting lapses into a confusion of out-of-nowhere characters, a slew of silly, reckless moves on Rachel's part, and a flat, unconvincing finish, making this outing a safe bet only for the most hopeful, and uncritical, dog lovers. Mystery Guild alternate selection
Genre: Mystery
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