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Lee Charles Kelley is a dog trainer. He is also a songwriter and playwright. One would assume the latter would have given the author of this debut novel a sense of drama and narrative. It would, perhaps, be educational for a reviewer to skim one of the gentleman's plays to find if they, too, have such an emphasis on dogs but, alas, this has not proved possible. Kelley's protagonist, Jack Field, is a former New York policeman now retired from the force, for reasons which are eventually made clear and who has moved to Maine to enjoy a quieter life style. He has with him a black teenager, Leon, aka Duke, a boy who witnessed the killing of his family by gangsters. A corrupt judge allowed the murderers to go free and Jack wishes to protect the boy until such time as the criminals can be brought to justice. Jack had discovered in himself a talent for training dogs, which he has subsequently turned into a profitable business. It would have amazed me a short time ago to see how many dog owners are posited for such a small American town but since I have recently become aware of how many dog owners there are in a small English town, I shall refrain from comment. Field is dating a young doctor, Jamie, who is, to her neurosurgeon father's disgust, turning her hand to autopsies. Jamie becomes embroiled in the investigation of the murder of an attractive divorcee when Jack adds the corpse's dog to the animals in his care. Field finds himself at odds with the local sheriff and the sheriff's deputy as he attempts to help solve the murder of Allison DeMarco as well as a later, associated murder. Various - well, perhaps red herrings is a bit of an excessive description where, say, pink salmon might suffice - false clues are set to distract the reader but the tale meanders through almost incestuous relationships found in the town as well as introducing a Mafia element. Field calls on his previous authority as a cop to influence people and, of course, does a better job of detecting than the local law enforcement officers. It is unfortunate that the narrative is more of a how-to-train-your-dog-successfully manual with a flimsy story draped on its bare bones than a tale with subtle dog training suggestions added for interest. Characterisation is, a little flimsy although possibly will become stronger as the inevitable series progresses. Kelley appears passionate about a different form of dog education from that normally practised but he comes off as being too blatantly didactic. Less obtrusive methods might have been more productive. The construction of the story suffered from the author's inexperience in that the identity of the murderer was disclosed to the reader far too early so that the tale tended to limp to its conclusion. No doubt more practice will improve Mr. Kelley's story-telling abilities.
Reviewed by Denise Wels, March 2003
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