Eli Paxton is a private detective living in Cincinnati and down on his luck. He is hired to find the number one Westminster show dog in the country. While he normally doesn’t take on missing dog cases, he hopes he can make at least enough money to pay the rent. While he thinks this is a simple dognapping case, he finds out otherwise. The handler was sending the show dog home to Arizona for breeding, when the plane, and the Weimaraner, disappeared on the way.

The same time the dog disappears so does Alice Dent the kennel girl who was caring for him. Alice and her car are found and dredged up from the Little Miami River. Paxton thought sure the job would now be cancelled, but was surprised to find out otherwise. The person who hired him strongly reminded him he was hired to find the dog, not Alice.

Paxton finds it difficult to believe show dogs are worth the amounts of money that are getting thrown around and the number of people who don’t want him to succeed in finding the dog. His investigation takes him to Arizona, New Mexico, and into Mexico. Two attempts are made on his life in Arizona, he receives a severe beating resulting in a hospital stay, people around him are dying, and a mysterious black Lincoln follows him around.

When he finally gets back to Cincinnati he continues to search for the truth although even his closest friends refuse to get further involved. He finds that what he has stumbled into goes higher up than even he can image.

Dog in the Manger was written by Mike Resnick. Originally published as a stand-alone novel in 1995, it was recently brought back into print. A sequel, The Trojan Colt, quickly followed.

Dog in the Manger is a fast-paced novel similar to the hard-boiled detective stories of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Written in the first person, the story features the 43-year-old Paxton who is wise enough to make friends and work closely with the local police who often help him solve his cases; unusual for a private eye.

The plot is strengthened by the humor and helps the storyline flow. Once a reader picks up this book, they are going to have a difficult time closing it until the unexpected ending that will leave them smiling and wanting more mystery stories from Mr. Resnick.

A special thank you goes to Seventh Street Books for providing us with a complimentary copy of Dog in the Manger. If you would like to obtain any of Mike Resnick’s books, they are available at Amazon.com.