Rachel Alexander

Created by Carol Lea Benjamin

Private snooper RACHEL ALEXANDER is hopefully also a public scooper as she teams up with her precious pitbull pooch Dash (short for Dashiell, of course) to solve mysteries in the Big Apple. Lots of digressions about dogs, unfair portrayal of pit bulls in the media, blah, blah, blah….whaddya expect from a former dog trainer? Rachel even uses Dash as a therapy dog in 1999’s Lady Vanishes, something he’s evidently trained to be. At least it’s not cats, I guess….

And in fact, this series — despite the all the doggie doo — has more going for it than a few cute trappings. Author Benjamin even nabbed a Shamus for Best First P.I. Novel in 1997 for This Dog for Hire. Not so much a private eye novel, to tell you the truth, as a cozy (or maybe a warm’n’cuddly?) with a private eye lead character, but surprisingly enjoyable for fans of the genre, nonetheless.

The author taught school and worked as a private investigator, before becoming a dog trainer and writer. Besides the Rachel Alexander series, she has written numerous non-fiction books on dogs, including Dog Problems, Second-Hand Dog and Do Border Collies Dream of Sheep?

NOVELS

• This Dog For Hire (1996) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• The Dog Who Knew Too Much (1997) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• A Hell of a Dog (1998) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Lady Vanishes (1999) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• The Wrong Dog (2000) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• The Long Good Boy (2001)| Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Fall Guy (2004) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Without a Word (2005) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• The Hard Way (2006) | Buy this book | Kindle it!

RELATED LINKS

• Going to the Dogs
  The Great Mutts of Detective Fiction

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

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