German Shepherd Gnarly Reads Sign Language to Save His Master!

Image by Magnus Bråth via Flickr

"Forget about pine needles, 
I'll just slip to the store and pick out
a big juicy bone..."

Old Loves Die Hard


A Mac Faraday Mystery


By Lauren Carr








Yes, Lauren, I picked up on the irony of Mac thinking he had to wait to payday to replace his grinding brakes... For those of you who did not read the first book in the Mac Faraday series, let me just share that Mac  inherited tons of money from his biological mother. She had been a well-known and successful writer of mystery novels before she died. Earlier, she had arranged to meet her son, who had been adopted. Now, though he still was not used to not having to wait for a payday, he lived in a mansion, owned a nearby vacation spot...and Gnarly...

Yes, he came with the house...

Gnarly is a very intelligent German shepherd (tested, even!), knows sign language, which is used to save Mac's life in this novel...and a thief! Seriously, the hijinks of Gnarly is enough to make the book worth reading!

But Mac Faraday is all about mystery and he's right in the middle of it this time! Because his ex-wife and her ex-lover were murdered in a beautiful penthouse suite owned by, you guessed it, Mac! Christine had come to visit Mac at his new home and quickly proposed that they get back together! Of course, she was already drinking when she had arrived but when she entered the home that she could have once called hers, she had moved more quickly than she should have.

In addition to what she had done to him emotionally by leaving and living with Stephen McGuire, Mac had another reason for totally being turned off by his ex-wife's manner. Her name was Archie. She, too, came with the property he had inherited...

Realizing he had to do something to get her out of his home, Mac had taken her to Spencer Inn where he learned he had an entire floor just waiting for his use or for his guests. Readers see the security through which Mac goes to finally get Christine in and settled, with a warning not to leave the suite.

But even with all that security, by the next morning she was dead. And so was Stephen McGuire...

When lots of people, involved in politics, are part of the story, you should know it will be a whodunit that is more difficult to solve. There was no way to keep track of those who had a reason to kill Christine and/or Stephen McGuire. Was it political? Personal? Was it jealousy? After all, Christine had met Stephen and a beautiful woman in the lobby as they arrived and had caused an awful scene, with Christine trying to attack Stephen!

But forensics proved that Christine was not the killer...

Then during the investigation it was discovered that Stephen McGuire was not who he said he was and had robbed Christine of everything during their time together, including, apparently, money that had been sent to Christine from one of her sisters...

He also, however, had been putting together a set of files that could prove wrongdoing in a government office. Honestly, just about everybody, including Mac, hated the guy enough to want him...dead...

And guess what, Mac and the Sheriff travel to Morgantown, WV, as part of their investigation! I was hoping to meet them since I live not too far away, but...

Anyway, I hope future readers do better than I did on solving this one. If so, let me know how you figured it out! I was stumped, reading through to the conclusion before everything was finally explained. Carr's main characters in this series are really wonderful. I love the Spencer Manor life as Mac is discovering his stock of fine wines, etc., and Archie and he are becoming closer and closer. Add Gnarly and you have a true family setting...even if we hear Mac yell, "Gnarly, I'm going to kill you, you thief!" quite often.

I'm in for the long-haul on this series and I think you will be too...so check out my review of the first book, It's Murder My Son! Plan to get both books and have a great weekend with another mystery lover, the author, Lauren Carr! And Enjoy!

Book Received
From Author


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