Paw of the Jungle
Aaarrrghhh. I couldn't stop reading but it made me mad all the way through. She's a good writer and she had a couple of interesting crimes for her detective--a K-9 officer--to explore. But the book was about twice as long as it needed to be...why?
For one, she lectured. She went off into long paragraphs of preaching about illegal animal trafficking or poaching or whatever, all valid subjects of outrage, but did I need to read it? I'll let her off the hook on that one--after the first one or two, I detected when a diatribe was coming and skimmed until the story resumed.
For another, she started off in the perpetrator's head, in third person, then switched into the detective's head in first person, then the dog's in third. That was irritating as heck--if you're going to write in first person that's fine, but stay there.
I personally had zero interest in being inside the perp's head. I never want to be in the murderer's head, and It ruined the mystery for me. Maybe she was trying to teach a lesson--to show us how our social system perpetuates crime by not helping ex-cons obtain and keep jobs. Maybe she was teaching a lesson about how the right amount of money corrupts even the best of intentions. Whatever! I read mysteries to be entertained, not lectured to!
And for my last and final gripe, the detective needs to learn how to pay attention to her dog. She's got a highly trained K-9 officer with a nose that can smell things she can't even comprehend, and she doesn't bother to use it! The dog had to disobey her before she'd pay attention to it.
Sorry, Ms. Kelly. I'd like to read another of your books and I will. But this one pushed all my buttons in the worst way.
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