IN DOG WE TRUST by Neil Plakcy

I’ve been reading Neil Plakcy’s posts on DorothyL for several years now, and he makes sense to me: he’s well spoken (written), his BSP is understated, I like his tone, and so I read most of his posts, but. But, I’ve been leery of reading stories about handsome, sexy gay men in love and danger. I was surprised by, but truly love, Anthony Bidulka’s Russell Quant, so I’m not opposed to gay mysteries per se--but there have been many which leave me unmoved. I guess I haven’t been ready to risk my interest in Neil Plakcy for a story about gay sex.

I got a colour Nook a few days ago, so one of the first things I did was write to Neil for a link to IN DOG WE TRUST which is available only as an ebook. IN DOG WE TRUST is a mystery starring a golden retriever named Rochester and a straight professor named Steve. DorothyLer Bonnie Riley wrote that she didn’t buy Steve’s being hetero, but I did. Several of Steve’s catty remarks about his ex-wife sounded just like my ex-husband.

What makes Steve’s dysfunctional relationship with his ex-wife sometimes seem flat are his other great relationships: there’s his evolving relationship with Rochester and the consequent side issues his feelings are dragged into; and there’s banter with his newly re-established acquaintance, Rick, a cop and former childhood friend. These are quirky and moving.

Seemingly irrelevant vignettes pop into the story--this is the author’s style--eventually they become the patter of Steve’s thoughts. The best of these is the college professor’s reaction to his underwhelming, ungrammatical, and punctuation-less students. Truly, the story is worth reading for these alone.

Soon I hope there’ll be a followup to IN DOG WE TRUST which I shall order as soon as it’s released. And then, someday, I’ll risk MAHU, the first in Neil Plakcy’s gay mystery series.

IN DOG WE TRUST
© 2010
by Neil Plakcy
http://www.mahubooks.com/