The Dog Who Knew Too Much

The Dog Who Knew Too Much is the second Rachel Alexander novel from Carol Lea Benjamin, the New York dog trainer who has been writing the series as a sideline to her actual dog-training work. The case involves the apparent suicide of a young woman in a Manhattan loft and a pit bull that survived the incident.

Benjamin's great gift in this series is the dog material, which is the genuine article. The training scenes, the canine behavior observations, the specific physical and emotional rhythms of working with a dog through a difficult investigation, are rendered with the kind of insider attention that the form does not usually have access to. Dashiell, Rachel's own Pit Bull, is a real character rather than a sidekick.

The mystery itself is competent. The pleasure is the texture. Four stars. Recommended to readers who love dogs and to readers of New York-set procedural with serious specialized knowledge.