March 24, 2008
Poetry-loving, bon vivant dog detective Randolf returns (after A Dog About Town
) for another installment of the Bull Moose Dog Run mysteries. Imogen—mistress of Randolf, heiress of a mining fortune and partner to artist Harry—has disappeared, upsetting Randolf and Harry alike. Det. Peter Davis informs Harry that Imogen has been implicated in the murder of a foreign diplomat, whose body is discovered at one of Manhattan’s last boarding houses in red heart–laden boxer shorts, with an open parachute on his back and pictures of a scantily clad Imogen by his side. To find out more, Labrador Randolf goes undercover at the U.N. as therapy dog to a diplomat with the blues and keeps Harry in the loop by various ingenious methods. Englert’s droll mix of mystery, philosophical musing about man and beast, political doings at the U.N. and the mysteries of love make this an elegant, funny and inspiring romp in the park.