MURDER AT THE RED DOG by John Herrmann

MURDER AT THE RED DOG by John Herrmann
A Brew Moore Mystery
Deadly Alibi Press - June 2001
ISBN: 1886199140 - Trade Paperback

Reviewed by Susan McBride, MyShelf.com
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Brewster Moore is a middle-aged newspaperman who tired of the wasp's nest style of life in Manhattan and settled in a town called Kootenai Falls, Montana. Moore has taken a job with the local paper, but it's laid back compared to his former job. That is, until Gil and Beth Owens are found murdered in the back room of a tavern called the Red Dog, a hangout familiar to all in Kootenai Falls. Eagle features are scattered near to the crime scene, seeming to implicate a man named Dennis O'Brien, an Indian who had worked with Gil Owens on some special computer projects.

Moore thinks that Dennis is being set up. After all, he's a highly educated fellow with not a hint of criminal mischief in his background. Despite his editor's advice not to dig too hard, Moore does just that--along with his sidekick, a border collie named Jessie and would-be girlfriend, the much younger Amy Kroll.

There was much I liked about MURDER AT THE RED DOG. Herrmann's character of Brew Moore, though a tad blurry around the edges, is a interesting fellow with a "live and let live" attitude that seems to work well in his new surroundings. The point of view is Moore's, and the sometimes fluid, sometimes choppy style seems to actually suit the character well. The mystery is a bit complicated as it begins to unravel, but I didn't care so much about how Moore would deal with his involvement with the case and with Amy. An interesting debut of a promising new series.