A Nose for Murder (edition 2003)

The main character, Jack Field, is a former NY city homicide detective who retired to become a dog trainer in Maine. Naturally he becomes involved when one of his dog-training clients is murdered. The plot is good, the characters are mostly good, although Jack definitely falls into the rather cliched maverick cop category. No matter who he's dealing with, or how reasonable they are, he has to make smart ass comments. At first my response, having seen this so often, is "it must be a guy thing. I don't understand." then I think to myself , "oh, yeah, and YOU"RE the one who keeps quoting "it is the duty of every citizen to be subversive" every chance you get, and how is this different?" But I do see a difference in questioning authority, trying to find the truth, and sharing it, with being snarky to everybody.

The book is fascinating in its discussion of dog training. Jack espouses a type of dog training very much out of the mainstream these days. He disagrees that dogs are mostly organized by dominance, instead that packs cooperate to hunt. Playing with them in ways that stimulate their hunting instincts is the best way to keep them interested and trained, and by using happy tones of voice. The author even gives a bibliography in the back, and says that Natural Dog Training by Kevin Behan is the best dog training book ever. (Note: I haven't read that book myself).

Good reading. ( )