Book 81, 2021

[chez_jae]

Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund by Blaize Clement

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Last night, I finished reading Duplicity Dogged the Dachshund, by Blaize Clement. It's the second book in the "Dixie Hemingway" cozy mystery series. Story is told in first person point of view by former-deputy-turned-pet sitter, Dixie.

While Dixie is walking Mame, an elderly dachshund in her care, the dog gets loose and begins digging in a pile of mulch. Mame unearths a body, leading Dixie to call the police. She is stunned to realize she recognizes the victim, Conrad Ferrelli--a man whose Doberman Dixie has taken care of before--and that she waved at Conrad's car shortly before Mame found his body. Now a killer believes that Dixie saw him and can identify him, even though Dixie simply assumed it was Conrad. She intends to stay out of it and let the police investigate, but when there's an attempt on her life, Dixie is no longer content to stay on the sidelines. Someone is out to get her, and Dixie isn't going to be a sitting duck.

Excellent story! Dixie is such a flawed character--hurting and vulnerable, yet still tough as nails. She doesn't have much to laugh about in life, but her wry sense of humor comes through in the narration. Other characters were fully realized, including some rather smarmy and disgusting villains, any of whom could be the killer and all of whom deserved the same fate. Even the pets' characters are portrayed well, from the brooding Mame to the sober and grieving Reggie. The plot was smooth as butter, taking Dixie from her rounds as a pet sitter to her spontaneous visits to people whom she hoped could shed light on Conrad's life and death. I adored her interactions with her brother, Michael, and his partner, Paco.

Favorite lines:
♦ She growled. It was her finger and she wasn't giving it up.
♦ "You're a very good girl, and everything's okay." That's what we all want to hear, that we're good and that everything's okay.
♦ If I ran the world--and God knows I could do a better job of it than the yahoos doing it now--any leader who sent troops off to fight would have to march at the head of the ranks. That would bring about world peace in about four weeks.

♦ If I did all the things I needed to do, I wouldn't have time for any of the things I had to do.
♦ When a healthy man as gorgeous as Paco stretches out in front of you, you might as well enjoy the sight even though he's as unattainable as one of the rings of Saturn.
♦ I looked hopefully in the refrigerator for a gift from the fruit fairy, like a surprise peach or a fresh bag of oranges.
♦ "My guess is he's busy as a cat covering shit."
This line nearly killed me. I laughed and laughed and LAUGHED. I had to take my reading glasses off to wipe tears from my eyes. I laughed for a solid five minutes. Not helping is that some of my cats make themselves VERY busy covering shit, especially CJ.
♦ "Clowns, actors, writers, they all live in their imagination so much they get reality a little bit confused."
♦ When Paco's in full prowl, he's like a healthy young panther, sleek and gorgeous.
♦ Female jaws fell open all over the room at the sight of Paco, and some women at the sushi counter nearly toppled off their stools. Jealous eyes sent me viperous looks that hoped I'd eat bad blowfish and die. If they had known Paco's heart beat fast only for my brother, their ovaries would have lain down and wept.
♦ "You're not going to take off your clothes and walk around my apartment naked, are you?" // "Wouldn't think of it." // "Damn."
♦ Paco spent his life infiltrating mobs and gangs ruled by vicious killers. He went into situations that would make the Terminator pee himself, but he seemed about as freaked by the snake as I was.
♦ "You never got to finish the howl. You had a good one going, and they stopped it."
♦ Hell, offer me hot French bread with chocolate butter to smear on it, and I forget all about the possibility that I might be murdered.

I can't say it was a delightful story, as it was fraught with murder and danger and people who are too awful to live. However, it was compelling and it captured my interest. Five stars.