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While on her rounds, veterinary Jessica Popper finds the body of PR mogul Tommee Frack tossed into the woods, the broken corpse of a canary nearby. Every important, powerful mover or shaker in Long Island comes to his funeral; with so many friends, who could have been his enemy? The gold-digging young fiancee? The grieving, still loving ex-wife? The man who gave him his start in business, only to be ruined by him? Or someone else in that star-studded crowd? Despite orders from the police assigned to the case, anonymous threats, and the advice of her occasional boyfriend PI Nick Burby, Jessica is convinced that the canary is a clue that only a vet can solve. Using her job as an excuse to get close to the suspects, she works her way into ever-increasing danger. DEAD CANARIES DON'T SING is the first entry in the new Reigning Cats and Dogs series. Unfortunately, neither the book nor the heroine are strong enough to serve as a foundation. The title is itself a clue large enough to be considered a spoiler. The narrative is badly uneven; the book starts with several pages of cringingly cute description of Dr Popper's pets, but almost no background is given for her tumultuous relationship with Nick. After several chapters of unexplained comments about fighting and heartbreak, the readers are left wondering if they've come into the series a novel or two too late. This is particularly distracting because more time is spent on Popper's love life (and everyone's opinions about it) than her investigation. This is because without several convenient, occasionally unbelievable, plot twists there would be no reason for amateur sleuthing anyway. Perhaps that is a blessing in disguise, for Jessica seems far too foolish to be a detective, much less have made it through medical school and set herself up in a successful solo practice. There's something very off-putting about a grown modern woman referring to herself as a "girl detective" and using Nancy Drew as her role model -- particularly after she has been involved with a real PI. On the other hand, she obviously hasn't been paying attention to anything he could teach her, since she takes so long to realize that a very recognizable car has been following her, and even longer to stop failing to identify the driver and instead look at the license plates. Worse, even after she has been followed, warned off the case, and heard about anonymous threats telephoned to her neighbors, her first thought at finding an envelope tucked against her windshield is "a ticket." Her second is "a note from a secret admirer." Hopefully, Jessica will gain a little intelligence and experience before her next adventure this fall.
Reviewed by Linnea Dodson, May 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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