Melissa Cleary

“Lights… Camera… Woof!”
In the dog days of an Ohio summer, Jackie and Jake’s stint on a movie set lands them supporting roles—in a murder mystery! Jackie’s keeping busy by acting as wrangler for Jake—she’s signed him up as top dog in a film being directed by her gifted former student, John McBride. But only a few days into shooting, the producer falls victim to a murderous hit-and-run driver. John is arrested for the crime, but Jackie’s own list of suspects is long enough show more to stump a pack of bloodhounds. With Jake’s help, Jackie sets out to prove that the police are barking up the wrong tree… show less

Better, less quipping, fewer unrealistic dog stunts, nicer choice of romantic partner. Stories about people killing the homeless has a high squick factor for me.Give A Poor Dog A Home
When a stray terrier leads Jackie to the dead body of a homeless woman, she and Jake have their hands (and paws) full. The police rule the woman’s demise an accidental death, a case of drinking too much and freezing to death—but the woman’s friend claims she never drank. Now, between watching out for the show more orphaned dog and watching for clues to a possible murder, they’re entangled in a mystery that may put them in the doghouse with some of Palmer’s most prominent citizens… show less

This is a series that I have read several times before. First I read it and gave all the books to a neighbour who read them and gave them away so after a year or two I bought them all again and reread them. That time I gave them to my vet and then forgot who I gave them to until after I bought them for a third time. Somehow I had the impression that the reason I gave them away was they were not good enough to keep and then I would get curious and be reading dog mysteries and being a show more completist of sorts I would want to read this series and well that is the picture. It has been a good ten years since I last read this series and having just finished book one found it surprisingly good. I am looking forward to the next bunch. Each time one rereads a book one brings something different to the experience. I am older, I have read other things since, I know more and am in a different place in my life which gives reading this book an entirely different feel and pleasure.

Introducing Jackie Walsh and her crime-solving shepherd, Jake. When a beautiful Alsatian shepherd shows up in her backyard--with a bullet wound in his leg--Jackie has no intention of keeping him, despite her son's pleas. And soon the matter of the dog takes second place to her investigation of a murder at the university. #1 show less

Honestly, I would say this is not really worth bothering with. I found the prose clunky and overly cute, and the solution to the mystery involved several dei ex machina, not anything that could be figured out. There was an awful lot of info-dumping, as well. The characters never took life, and the setting was absurdly artificial. I also felt that everyone in the book was a pastiche on a real figure, which gets old fast.

What pushed me over the edge from "meh" to outright dislike was a scene show more where the German Shepherd, Jake (who is only in the book to justify putting "Dog Lover" on the cover and attract the rabid dog-o-phile buyer) tracked a car that had driven away by riding in a second car and sticking his head out the window. He barked Left/Right commands to his owner. In addition, half way through he stopped to eat a very smelly sausage. All this, in a book that was not branded as "urban fantasy" or other genre where magic would make sense. show less