In Shamus Award–winning author Carol Lea Benjamin's riveting mystery, dog trainer–turned-PI Rachel Alexander and her pit bull, Dash, take a walk on the wild side—with a little help from a courageous dachshund—to solve a series of murders Rachel and Dash have a new client. Well, three new clients. A trio of transvestite working girls want Rachel to investigate the death of one of their own. Rosalinda's throat was slashed on Halloween right after the Greenwich Village parade. Finding her killer isn't exactly the NYPD's top priority—and LaDonna, Chi Chi, and Jasmine are terrified that they'll be next. With her cash retainer in hand—and very few leads—Rachel starts digging. What is the connection between Rosalinda and a dead butcher? Soon, with the help of Chi Chi's mini-dachshund, Clint, Rachel is breaking into a plant in the Meatpacking District. But her future is suddenly on the line when she sets herself up as...

Winner of the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel: In the first book of Carol Lea Benjamin's acclaimed mystery series, Greenwich Village PI Rachel Alexander and her loyal pit bull must find a killer and a missing show dog Divorced dog trainer–turned–private-eye Rachel Alexander and her canine assistant Dash—short for Dashiell—are hired by a man named Dennis Keaton to investigate the hit-and-run death of his friend and neighbor Clifford Cole, whose body was found on an isolated Christopher Street pier. The police are treating the gay painter's suspicious death as a hate crime, but Dennis insists Cliff hadn't cruised the waterfront in months. Plus, Magritte, Cliff's champion basenji—a competitor in the upcoming Westminster Dog Show—may have been a witness to the crime and is now missing. The search for answers takes Rachel and Dash from the SoHo art scene to the most famous dog show in America. Now Rachel is in the sights...

The path to enlightenment is fraught with danger when Greenwich Village PI Rachel Alexander and her pit bull, Dash, investigate the death of a tai chi practitioner Did she jump or was she pushed? Devastated by the loss of their only child, David and Marsha Jacobs hire Rachel to find out why Lisa leaped to her death from the fifth-floor window of her martial arts studio. The tai chi instructor, who was studying to be a Zen Buddhist priest, seemed to have it all: beauty, brains, a vocation she adored, a sexy lover—and her beautiful, sad-eyed Akita, who may have been the only witness to her death and is still grieving the loss of his mistress. Refusing to believe that Lisa would abandon her beloved pet—and with only a suspicious suicide note to go on—Rachel and her canine assistant, Dash, hit the streets of downtown New York, retracing the dead woman's steps to figure out whether she was yin to a killer's yang.

Former detective turned noted author and dog trainer, Carol Lea Benjamin, returns with her celebrated dark and edgy suspense series featuring smart and compelling private investigator Rachel Alexander -- a new addition to the Morrow/Avon list.A New York City police officer nearing retirement dies "accidentally," while cleaning his service revolver in the bathroom of his Greenwich Village apartment. Private investigator, Rachel Alexander, is stunned to learn she's been named the executor to his will--after all, they'd only met when she was doing pet therapy with her pit bull, Dashiell. A member of Rachel's 9/11 survivors group, the officer never spoke at meetings--a really hard case. But then there was the one time he took Dash for a walk around the block. When Dash returned, the fur on his head was soaked with tears....Was this death really a suicide? And why would the deceased have chosen a near stranger to perform such an intimate task--especially when he's...

Private investigator Rachel Alexander and her pit bull Dashiell return in this stylish, dark, emotionally complex seventh mystery from former detective and noted dog trainer Carol Lea Benjamin. When a distraught father approaches private investigator Rachel Alexander in a New York City park, asking her to help find his missing wife, Rachel accepts––reluctantly. After all, the chances of finding a woman who disappeared without a trace––and without a word––five years earlier are slim. But it's the missing woman's daughter who touches her most deeply––a troubled young girl whose mother's disappearance has rendered her mute. The child is also suspected of the murder of her doctor, a rich neurologist who was brutally stabbed one night while he was alone in his office. Rachel knows the disturbed girl can't be a murderer, but her investigation reveals that against all odds, it could be someone from her past. And against a...

Someone is killing off the great dog trainers of the world—and it's up to PI Rachel Alexander and her pit bull, Dash, to collar the murderer Rachel has just been hired as undercover security at a dog-training symposium at a posh Manhattan hotel. How can the Greenwich Village PI and her pit bull, Dashiell, turn down the hefty fee, plus free room and biscuits at the Ritz? All Rachel has to do is keep the peace among the competitive diva dog trainers who have come with their prize pooches from all corners of the globe. She and Dash have barely infiltrated the festivities when they find out that one of the trainers, the self-proclaimed guru of a controversial obedience technique, has been electrocuted in his bathtub. The cops are calling it an accident. Until another trainer dies . . . and then another. With suspects including a dog psychic and a behaviorist to the stars, Rachel discovers that it's the humans who need to be housebroken as she and Dash bring...