The Dog Days of Summer
- Jul 18
- 6 min read
According to The Almanac, the Dog Days of Summer, July 3 through August 11, are more celestial than canine. The dates coincide with the heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. The rising of Sirius does not actually affect the weather, but for the ancient Egyptians, Sirius appeared just before the season of the Nile’s flooding, so they used the star as a “watchdog.”
For me, the real meaning of the Dog Days of Summer is that it’s time to grab a great dog-themed mystery or thriller for beach reading. The Big Dogs on my reading list are Jeffrey B. Burton, Spencer Quinn, and David Rosenfelt. Any dog lover who picks up one of these canine mysteries and thrillers will quickly notice one thing: these men are “dog people” who live with, understand, and study their furry best friends. And the books are doggone great (Okay, forgive me for that one, but you get the idea).
The Boy in the Wall by Jeffrey B. Burton
When dog trainer Cory Pratt is volunteered by his detective sister, Crystal, to lead an entertaining, light-hearted dog demo for local elementary students, he believes his trepidation is a harbinger that things won’t go as planned, and he’s right. Cory believes his terrible fate will befall him in a gully of awkward questions. Not murder.
When Cory’s cadaver dogs detect the body of a missing teenage boy encased in the cafeteria wall, the Shortridge family is shattered. The discovery compounds their already pain-filled lives, since the eldest son had taken his own life a few years earlier. Now, everyone fears misfortune will befall the boys’ seven-year-old sister, Charlotte.
Cory, still grappling with the tragic loss of both his parents in a traffic accident, develops a natural rapport with young Charlotte, in part because of the comforting presence of his dogs.
When a kidnapping attempt on Charlotte is thwarted, Cory and his sister are sure someone is targeting the Shortridges. Detectives are stumped. Who is behind this wave of grief inflicted on such an unassuming family? And why? For Corey, those secrets can prove incredibly dangerous if exposed.
All families have secrets. The Boy in the Wall is an engaging thriller about buried family secrets—both true and embellished—that cast long shadows. Amid the danger, there is the delight of the special canine characters who truly make the story come alive. One of the fictional dogs, Rex, is largely based on Burton’s own dog Milo and his goofy personality.
When I read a novel, I always read the dedications and credits. For The Boy in the Wall, you don’t need to read the jacket to know it’s a great book; just read the dedication. Trust me; you’ll be hooked.
Burton says the idea of putting dogs in his books came from, of all places, jury duty. On the drive to court, he heard a story about an elderly missing man and how detectives were using dogs to locate him. The trial was a complex real estate matter, so Burton used the downtime jurors experience to scribble notes about what might happen to this lost man from the news and the jury case. When the case concluded, jurors were asked to turn in the notepads they were given. In a bit of panic, Burton says he tore off the last page of his fiction, which contained his rough outline, and secreted it out with him.
The Boy in the Wall is the third novel in Jeffrey B. Burton’s Chicago K-9 thriller series, following The Dead Years and The Second Grave. He’s also the author of three novels in his Mace Reid K-9 mystery series. Although not a dog trainer, he says he does extensive research, noting, “Dogs have a supernatural sense of smell.”
Cat on a Hot Tin Woof by Spencer Quinn
Ahh, Chet the Jet. What’s not to adore about a mystery novel told through the eyes, nose, ears, and zany attention span of a dog? Chet, the noble, loyal, unfailingly optimistic other half of the Little Detective Agency, with his human Bernie as the other half, doesn’t talk. Instead, you’re in his head, and what a fun place to be. He’s the poster pup for the classic unreliable narrator.
Chet the dog isn’t thrilled about the Little Detective Agency’s latest case. Chet and his human partner, PI Bernie Little, have been hired to find a missing cat—but not just any cat: social influencer and Internet sensation Miss Kitty. The duo must find her before the cat’s out of the bag and fans discover that the feline femme fatale is missing.
Bitty, a sweet teenage girl who lives with her mom, is Miss Kitty’s devastated human. They’d been struggling financially until Bitty began posting about Miss Kitty, and their fortunes changed. Now, with her high-powered agent, Miss Kitty is attracting interest from a big corporate sponsor who wants to sign her. With Miss Kitty gone, the family’s income and financial security are up a tree.
Putting aside that Chet wants nothing to do with a case involving a cat (something tied to why he failed his training on the last test, though he doesn’t like to discuss that incident), the case is an enormous challenge for the detectives. A potential witness is a pig named Señor Piggy who may be in possession of an important piece of evidence. Also, a possible perp appears to have been killed twice—and there’s evidence implicating Chet’s beloved Bernie in the crime.
Spencer Quinn (Peter Abrahams) decided to write about a dog protagonist after his wife suggested he try it. That was when his alter ego, Spencer Quinn, was created.
I’m not sure I can say it any better than Stephen King did (Yeah, like I could pull that off!): This is no cutie-poo “cozy” mystery, either. There’s some hard bark (as well as barking) here. Humor? Got it. First-class whodunit? Check. Good writing without any show-off bells & whistles? Yes and yes. I could go on and on, but as Chet so wisely says, “No time for that now.”
Cat on a Hot Tin Woof is the 16th novel in the Chet and Bernie mysteries, with Dog on It as the first. He’s also written a series of short stories featuring the lovable Chet. He’s also the author of the new Mrs. Plansky series and a slew of books for young readers, many of which feature canine characters.
Dead Men Don't Play Fetch by David Rosenfelt
New Jersey defense attorney Andy Carpenter wants nothing more than to retire, more interested in dogs than in legal drama. However, a call from his old friend Lou Capanelli asking a favor once again thwarts the lawyer’s retirement dreams. Andy can never refuse Lou, who runs a rehab center. When one of Lou’s patients, a homeless veteran named Jason Maddox, is charged with first-degree murder, Andy must step up. The deal is sealed when he’s called upon to care for the accused’s dog. Seriously, what’s one more dog in the house?
But that’s when the case gets complicated. Maddox is accused of killing none other than billionaire Paul Vincent. Vincent had dedicated much of his life to philanthropy, with a soft spot for dog-related causes. That led him to befriend Maddox, a physicist and war hero whose life spiraled, leaving him on the streets with his dog, just trying to survive.
For the prosecution, it appears a slam dunk: Maddox is set to receive a fortune in Vincent’s will, his fingerprints are on the knife, and the dead man’s wallet is found in the suspect’s jacket.
Andy is entangled in a puzzling, serpentine case. But to reunite a man with his dog, Andy will have to untangle Maddox’s legal nightmare.
Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch is David Rosenfelt’s 33rd novel featuring the reluctant and infamous criminal defense lawyer with a penchant for rescuing dogs, including the first in the series, Open and Shut. They’re smart legal mysteries with charm and treats. He’s also the author of nine standalone thrillers and four novels in the K-Team detective mysteries, an offshoot of the Andy Carpenter world. His new Christmas Andy Carpenter mystery, Bark Humbug, hits the shelves in October.
David Rosenfeld and his wife established the Tara Foundation in 1995 in honor of their golden retriever. They’ve since rescued more than 4,000 dogs, many of them goldens, and found them loving homes. He says their home quickly became a sanctuary for the dogs they rescued, who were too old or too sick to be wanted by others. Who’s a good boy!
While Jeffrey B. Burton, Spencer Quinn, and David Rosenfelt may be my favorite dog-mystery scribes, there are seemingly countless authors writing mysteries and thrillers featuring canines. Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 series is good, and her latest installment, Fighting Edge, drops on September 8. Kathleen Donnelly also has a new novel in her National Forest K-9 suspense series, Deadly Revenge.
Dog-themed mysteries and thrillers make for entertaining titles. Here are a few fun examples from the latest releases: To Fetch a Killer (Teddy Hanover), The Dog Park Detectives (Blake Mara), The Dogwalkers Detection Agency (Michael Hogan), Muzzled Murder (Angie Street), Paw Enforcement (Donna Kelly), and Death under the Dogwoods (Neil S. Plakcy and Joanna Campbell Slan).
Although it’s from 2011, I can’t exclude Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie, where the great Hercule Poirot gets a helping paw from Bob the dog.
Comments