The Rachel Alexander and Dash Mysteries Series

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 a serial killer to heel. A Hell of a Dogis the 3rd book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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. The Dog Who Knew Too Muchis the 2nd book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

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 of a killer hunting her across a treacherous urban landscape. There’s no one she can trust—especially not of the two-legged variety. This Dog for Hire is the 1st book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A dog trainer-turned-PI and her pit bull go after a killer—with a little help from a courageous dachshund—in this mystery by a Shamus Award winner. 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 bait to catch the killer. As Rachel follows a twisting trail with only Dash for protection, she discovers that her foray into “the life” could end with her own untimely death. The Long Good Boy is the 6th book in the Rachel Alexander and Dash Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A Greenwich Village PI and her pit bull hunt down killers in these three smart, witty mysteries from a Shamus Award winner. In This Dog for Hire, the debut of New York private detective Rachel Alexander and her pit bull, Dash—short for Dashiell—a hit-and-run leaves a local painter dead and his show dog, a basenji, temporarily missing.   After cracking that case, Rachel and Dash return in The Dog Who Knew Too Much to investigate a t’ai chi teacher’s fatal leap from a window. Rachel suspects there’s more involved, as the woman would never have left her beloved Akita behind.   Rounding out the collection is A Hell of a Dog, in which Rachel, a former dog trainer herself, must find out who’s killing off trainers at a professional gathering at a posh New York City hotel.   With comparisons to the mysteries of Laurien Berenson and Susan Conant, these novels—with “excellent” writing and a “nice touch of humor”—are an involving, atmospheric read for fans of strong female PIs, especially those with furry sidekicks (Library Journal).