Wednesday, December 13, 2006

"Dogs" by Loren D. Estleman

From: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, May 1987

Also available in the iBooks reprint of Lady Yesterday, 2002

P.I. Amos Walker travels from Detroit to Iroquois Heights, hired by a blind woman to find her seeing-eye dog. Walker checks with the local newspaper office and is directed to the police reporter, Ed Stillwell, who gives him a lead on illegal dogfights.

The lead proves promising, but Stillwell tries to call Walker off. The next morning Walker hears Stillwell is in the hospital in critical condition. He suspects someone with the local police caught on to his conversation with Stillwell and may be behind the dogfights.

A former newsman, Estleman's prose is pared down and full of forward momentum. Couple this with Amos Walker's low tech lifestyle and it's easy to forget what year it is.

Estleman delivers what matters most in any period, a good story.

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