Book Reviews

As head of the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care in Houston, Texas, Dr. MacDonell is still in charge after the events depicted in the first book, "Canis." While there has been a shakeup and his new boss who wants nothing to do with the department feels safer staying as far away as possible, Dr. Armstrong and his office are still burdened with the modern day problems of a shortage of qualified and competent staff, financial woes, and unwanted pets. Add to that, a simple lack of appreciation for his necessary job and Dr. Macdonald is just a bit fed up and then his problems suddenly get massively worse.

Dr. MacDonell is in the parking lot of the posh Kingswood Country Club one summer evening waiting for his wife as attendees of a $500 a plate political fundraiser dinner begin to leave. Various dignitaries and others leave with their groups and police escorts quietly into the early summer night until someone starts screaming that the Governor needs a doctor. The Governor, Pat Sawyer, is the former Governor of New Jersey who is just days away from in all likelihood accepting his party's nomination for President in Dallas during the convention. In the meantime, he has been viscously mauled by something and is loosing blood rapidly.

MacDonell treats him as best as he can while Sawyer explains that he needed some time alone and had just sat down in his car when he was attacked. He thinks it was a Bobcat or something but is so traumatized by the viscous attack he isn't sure. Dr. MacDonell soon manages to control his bleeding and then is moved out of the way when the Paramedics arrive. MacDonell checks the car and sees a viscous animal acting berserk. But it isn't a Bobcat but instead a housecat which might have rabies.

While initial tests on the cat come up negative and Governor Sawyer seems to recover, his health soon begins to take a nosedive. As soon as Governor Sawyer becomes deathly and terminally ill with no hope of recovery, Dr. MacDonell becomes the murder suspect in the eyes of various law enforcement types. Either he was grossly incompetent and didn't handle things correctly or he was totally involved and orchestrating events in the eyes of law enforcement and CDC staff investigating the case. While seeking to clear his good name and keep his office intact under a mounting political firestorm, Dr. MacDonell begins to work the case. He begins to suspect that a deep and abiding personal hatred by someone closest to Sawyer just might have been the motivation to kill. That person is still motivated and as so many others have found out over the years, the cover-up is always messier than the original crime itself.

This is another excellent book in this new series and another pleasurable read. In this author's novels, when people die, they die in unusual and interesting ways and this novel repeats that pattern. The author neatly brings the reader into his world and while informing the reader on various issues, manages to deftly mix in a story with a complex mystery. In so doing, the author demonstrates his ability to follow the old rule about writing what he knows while at the same time, making a very good book. Like his first book "Canis," this is another non-stop murder mystery full of action, complicated characters and nifty plotting, which results in another fine page turning read.

In his follow up to CANIS, his first mystery featuring Dr. Duncan MacDonell, politics, smuggling, and veterinary medicine all meet in a political conspiracy that involves death of a political candidate by what appears to be a rabid cat. Duncan MacDonell happens to be attending a Republican $500 per plate fundraiser for their candidate, Patrick Sawyer. When Sawyer gets into his limo to leave the party, he is viciously attacked by a cat. MacDonell is on the scene, and immediately orders rabies testing done on the offending feline:

"MacDonell scratched his chin. After mulling it over all night he expected the worst, and now he couldn't believe what he had just heard. 'Tell you what,' he said after some reflection, 'run it again and ship a chunk of the hippocampus up to Austin on Monday for mouse inoculation, just to be on the safe side.' 'Run it again?' Aaron whined. 'Run it again,' MacDonell repeated. 'Negative is negative, Doc,' Aaron said. He sounded sober. 'I'm not questioning your result, Johnny.' 'Sounds like it to me. And we usually only do mice if we suspect a false positive.' 'This isn't a usual situation, John. I saw the cat. It was flaming.'"

Armstrong's MacDonell is up against the usual bureaucracy when the candidate dies of rabies, who are only interested in covering their arses instead of getting to the bottom of the conspiracy. Mac is an instantly likeable character, with flaws and brilliance, happily working alongside a wife who is as much of a whiz with a pistol as she is in the kitchen. Set in Houston, Texas, MacDonell shows the reader what life is like in Texas, from the politics to the cooking. In Texas time, politics is gaining political correctness as MacDonell fights for justice against some rich and vindictive opponents. This is an intense and suspense-laden read.