Product Description

Rachel Alexander was having one of a series of those sleepless nights when every city sound grates, especially in a quiet neighborhood. The ringing of her cell phone was no exception. On the other hand, the request to meet the next evening held promise; the caller not identifying herself sounded just mysterious enough to make it interesting. If she couldn't sleep, Rachel thought, maybe a mystery would liven things up. And since she had no idea at all of where this meeting would lead, it certainly qualified as something to investigate.

She found out where she was going soon enough: Her caller was a transvestite hooker, one of the many who work New York's old meat packing district on the lower West Side. Someone was killing the girls and they knew, through experience, that the cops wouldn't be there to help them. In short order, Rachel finds herself not only transformed, but on the stroll, walking streets deserted but for marks and threats during bitter nights that offer fear in every whispered sound.

She also discovers that Dash isn't the right dog for one job she has to do, and that she has to turn a long-haired dachshund into a burglar to get the answers she needs, answers she couldn't even begin to imagine in the unimaginable world she's entered.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1099816 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The title pun on Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye and the portrait of an adorable pooch on the front cover may give the reader the impression that Shamus Award-winner Benjamin's sixth Rachel Alexander and Dash mystery is going to be cute. Fuhgeddaboutit! The author's New York mean streets are mean and dirty indeed, if not downright ugly. Fearing they may be the next victims, a trio of transsexual prostitutes ("trannys") hire Rachel to find a friend's killer. Armed only with her formidable pit bull, Dash, Rachel dives into Manhattan's meat-packing district in quest of clues. Benjamin, a former private investigator, depicts this world and its denizens, tranny and otherwise, exceptionally well. Because she has a wonderful ear for dialogue and has interviewed the types of people she writes about, her characters come vividly to life. Among the best of her characters are her dogs, Dash and Clint the dachshund, whom Rachel must train to perform a feat of infiltration worthy of a Mission: Impossible episode. A skilled dog trainer, the author makes her respect for her canine characters' intelligence abundantly clear. There's enough plot to fill a book twice the size of this one, and at times the story seems to go off in several directions at once. More confusing than ingenious, the novel ends like Hamlet, with the cast of villains assembled and with almost as many corpses strewn about the stage. If it's all a bit too complicated, the best elements, the dogs and trannys, make this a mystery worth reading. Agent, Brandt and Brandt.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In this exciting new anthology, 16 original stories blend mystery and astrology. Editor Perry's contribution, for example, The Blue Scorpion, weds historical fiction and ironic murder in a tale of two sisters with the same birthday who love the same man. Other authors include Edward Marston, Simon Brett, and Lillian Carl. For all collections.##+|0060198702George, Anne. Murder Boogies with Elvis. Morrow. Aug. 2001. c.256p. LC 00-067875. ISBN 0-06-019870-2. $23. ~Serial sister sleuths Mary Alice and Patricia Anne attend a benefit but wind up investigating the murder of an Elvis impersonator. More madcap adventures from the unlikely but always amusing pair.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Three transsexual prostitutes, working a warehouse district in lower Manhattan, enlist private detective Rachel Alexander to find the murderer of one of their coworkers, who was killed following the infamous Greenwich Village Halloween parade. As Rachel investigates, with the help of her pit bull, Dash, she finds the death tied to the murder of an undercover cop. To solve the case, Rachel must walk on the wild side herself, posing as a prostitute with only Dash for protection. This sixth mystery in Benjamin's series continues to display vivid New York settings, authentic descriptions of dogs and dog training, and appealing human and canine characters. Unlike many of the dog mysteries now available, Benjamin's series plays it fairly straight, and this entry, with its much darker story line, feels much less cozy than the typical dog whodunit. In fact, this novel might just appeal to readers of hard-boiled New York novels (Lawrence Block, for example) as well as to fans of other canine series (Susan Conant, Laurien Benson, et al.). John Rowen
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