Buy this book
Books N Bytes participates in affiliate programs including Amazon Associates and Bookshop.org. We may earn a commission when you purchase through our links at no extra cost to you.
Lady Vanishes is the fourth Rachel Alexander mystery from Carol Lea Benjamin, with the New York dog-trainer-PI hired to find a missing show dog whose owner is convinced has been deliberately taken. The investigation moves through Manhattan dog-show circles, professional handlers, and the kind of upper-class family politics that pet ownership at the high end can produce.
Benjamin's strength in Lady Vanishes is the careful observational work she brings to both human and animal behavior. The handler-trainer relationships are rendered with insider precision. Rachel's reading of the dogs themselves (the body-language details, the breed-specific anxieties, the small clues that a working trainer would notice) gives the procedural a unique observational texture. Fans of Laurien Berenson's Poodle-show mysteries or Susan Conant's sled-dog material will recognize the higher-craft register Benjamin is operating in.
The case resolves with appropriate weight. Dashiell again is one of the book's best characters.
Four stars. Recommended for dog mystery readers and for fans of New York-set PI fiction. The Lady Vanishes Carol Lea Benjamin entry is one of the stronger middle-series Rachel Alexander novels and a useful series sampler. Read after The Dog Who Knew Too Much for the cleanest character development.
Related reads
If you liked Lady Vanishes
The Dog Who Knew Too Much
by Carol Lea Benjamin
The second Rachel Alexander mystery. Carol Lea Benjamin writing a New York dog-trainer turned PI. The dog material is the genuine article.
A Hell Of A Dog
by Carol Lea Benjamin
A Hell Of A Dog by Carol Lea Benjamin review. The 3rd Rachel Alexander mystery. A dog-training conference, a possible murder, and the most insider dog material in any PI series.
The Wrong Dog
by Carol Lea Benjamin
The Wrong Dog by Carol Lea Benjamin review. The 5th Rachel Alexander mystery. A genetic-cloning case and the most morally complicated entry in the dog-mystery sequence.
The Long Good Dog
by Carol Lea Benjamin
The Long Good Dog by Carol Lea Benjamin review. The 6th Rachel Alexander novel. A Westminster Kennel Club case and Benjamin's most carefully observed dog-show writing.
Fall Guy
by Carol Lea Benjamin
Fall Guy by Carol Lea Benjamin review. A standalone Benjamin novel outside the Rachel Alexander series. Pleasant change of register, useful for readers who want her voice in a different form.
More by this author