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It's been too long since I had a Caleb and Thinnes mystery to read. THE FELINE FRIENDSHIP leaves me with mixed emotions. I'm delighted to have another great work from Michael Dymmoch, and I'm unhappy because I know Dymmoch isn't a "book a year" writer, so it will be a long time before I have a new one to enjoy. Jack Caleb is counseling a woman who was raped fifteen years ago. She is only now realizing that the residual anger, rage, guilt, and other emotions have left her with not much else in her life. He is also seeing a non-violent (relatively speaking) sexual offender . . . a rapist. John Thinnes, normally working homicides, is now in charge of investigating a series of rapes. He also has a new partner, Don Franchi. Don is female, and has an attitude problem. Thinnes doesn't like working rapes to being with, doesn't like breaking in a new partner, and isn't too happy about the baggage that Franchi seems to have with her -- a history of harassment suits, for starters. Dymmoch writes a well-rounded, complete mystery. The characters are well done. Here is our introduction to Franchi: . . .there was a female nicotine addict pacing in front of the doors while she had her fix. She was only about five- two, but built, Her hair was short -- a shade darker than her chocolate brown suit -- and it framed a face shaped to just fit a man's two hands. Her dramatically dark brows overhung eyes like those waifs' in the starving artists' paintings. She had a straight, prominent nose, and a mouth that might have been inviting if it hadn't been fixed in a scowl. Already I have a mental picture which I take with me throughout the book. Any other descriptions of Franchi only add to this mental image, make her more and more a real person. Dymmoch does this with all the major characters, without making the minor characters seem like cardboard cut-outs. While Dymmoch's novels all have good characterization, they don't skimp on plot. Nothing is straight-forward, although all the connections are there to be made, both by Thinnes and by the reader. Dymmoch has a way of taking events in the personal lives of the characters and making them resonate within the case, within other aspects of the characters lives. Caleb's insights have a way of enhancing Thinnes' views on what is going on, both professionally and personally. Dymmoch's novels are well-crafted. They don't reek of violence, although violence is present. They aren't the tension-filled, roller-coaster rides that typify a "thriller", although I found this book very difficult to put down, and read it in one sitting (or lying, as the day turned to night). They have the character-driven feel of a cozy, without losing the ups-and-downs associated with the realistic presentation of a police procedural. Dymmoch is a craftsman, and it shows - not just in this book, but in all the Caleb/Thinnes works. Michael Allen Dymmoch has been one of my favorite mystery writers since I first read The Man Who Understood Cats; THE FELINE FRIENDSHIP only reinforces my feeling that here is a writer to look for, to buy in hardcover, to give as gifts, to savor and reread.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, July 2003
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