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Delilah Doolittle is a pet detective. She tracks down missing pets for careless owners, which doesn't sound like it would be nearly lucrative enough to live on anywhere in the world, especially in California. Dee's friend Evelyn Cavendish has volunteered her services for something just a little different: finding the person who poisoned a valuable show horse belonging to Hilda Dorsett-Bragg, owner of a combination stud farm/dude ranch. Dee trundles off to the Lazy D Guest Ranch, along with her very well-behaved Doberman (Watson) and her true-to-breed Jack Russell (Trixie). She has a run-in with some unruly dogs and meets Hilda's neighbor, brother-in-law, and rival horse-breeder Charles Bragg. Dee meets everyone at the Lazy D, and forms her opinions of them all. Evie is there, trying to find Dee a rich RNM (really nice man), totally ignoring the already existing, if tenuous, relationship Dee has with Detective Jack Mallory of the Surf City Homicide Division. Jack has been, conveniently enough, called in when the horse farm manager, Hank Carpenter, is killed. Hank's son Buck manages the dude ranch, and is engaged to Fiona Dorsett-Bragg, daughter of Hilda. Evie, Fiona's god-mother, and Hilda both think Fiona could do better. The local sheriff, Anna Banning, and Jack Mallory seem a little closer than the job would ordinarily require. This was an enjoyable little read. The characters are fairly predictable; the plot is average; there were no real surprises along the way. I knew who the bad guys were fairly early on. I didn't figure out who poisoned the horse. I did think that the relationship between Dee and Jack, as written in this book, doesn't set the reader up sufficiently for the ending; not having read any of the previous books in the series, there could have been enough preview so that readers of the series won't be surprised. I was. The recipe for dog biscuits sounds like my dog will like it; I intend to try it. I'll read more of Guiver's work if it crosses my path, although I won't search out the first five in the series.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, August 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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