Murder Unleashed
By Lee Charles Kelley

    Why is it that sexy ladyloves of tough burned-out ex-cops have to hit their men to keep them in line? Maybe it's because Jack Field knows dogs better than he does people. He's also prone to an occasional slip of the tongue over billiards. (ie. on marriage: "Thankfully the subject has never come up.") By the end of the book, however, he undergoes a transformation and, complete with a Tiffany diamond, proposes to the small town medical examiner, Dr. Jamie Cutter.

    Jack not only has A Nose for Murder (title of the debut novel of the series), he has a nose for quality. He defends Tulips, an Asian-American singer and illegitimate daughter of a murdered judge, against the abuse of her drug-running boyfriend. Unfortunately, a shady sergeant, the murdered judge's even more shady in-law sniffing around Jamie tend to raise Jack's hackles and make him more dangerous than a dachshund that can't reach the Puppy Chow.

    Jack humorously explains that rottweilers have sweeter tempers than smaller dogs. That fits, since one imagines Jack built like a linebacker and Dr. Jamie Cutter weighing one hundred pounds dripping wet. The intrepid Dr. Cutter displays the tenacity of a miniature terrier, breaking into a deserted auto yard. The pair who burglarizes together stays together. How can a man write realistic male-female relationships? The answer's easy: Borrow some of the sense God gave a dog, and like Jack Field, you'll sniff out and uncover what's really important in life, even without a rolled-up newspaper.