I really wanted to love Dogs Don’t Lie. I love animals and I love psychic plots and, while I liked so much of this, in the end I could only give it a qualified recommendation.

When Pru Marlowe started hearing animals’ thoughts, she fled New York, leaving her a few credits short of receiving her degree as an animal behaviorist. Returning to her home town after 15 years, she take refuge in caring for her terminally ill mother. After her mother’s death, she sets herself up as an animal trainer. Business isn’t brisk and she takes jobs as a pet walker, cleans the fish tank at the local Chinese restaurant, and helps out at the animal shelter. When Charles Norris, software entrepreneur and new resident in Beauville, buys Lily, an abused pit bull used in a dog fighting ring, he comes to Pru for help.

Four months later Pru arrives at Charles’ home for their training session, and opens the door to find him dead, with Lily at his side, blood coating her muzzle. The police believe that Lily mauled him to death, but Pru knows better. She knows that Lily is not capable of killing her beloved person. Traumatized once again, Lily gives up very few clues, but Pru is determine to save her. With the help of Wallis, the cat that lives with her, Frank the ferret, Bitsy the bichon, and others, Pru makes good use of her pet psychic abilities. If only she could figure out how the pieces all fit together. Did Della, Charles’ girlfriend, have anything to do with his death? Or maybe it was Della’s jealous ex-boyfriend? One of the first rule of detective work is to follow the money, but it seems there isn’t any.

I like Pru. She is a strong, matter of fact person. A female hard-boiled detective, okay, maybe only soft-boiled. She makes the best of her life after having it turned upside down. The one constant in her life is her love of animals. And that love is what motivates her to find the real killer and save Lily’s life.

While I read more romance than mystery, this book with its matter of fact tone, fits my expectations of the genre. What that means on the plus side, is that the author did an excellent job in setting the mood of the book. On the negative side, that starkness didn’t quite work for me. I found myself, all through the book, looking for some insight into Pru’s psyche or for some sign of interpersonal relationships -perhaps even a hero to match up with Pru. No matter what the genre, I prefer my books to be less stark, to have more humor and more relationships between characters.

I have gone back and forth on the grade more times then I can count. While this is a unique, well-told story and I basically liked the book, it lacks the emotional connection that many readers tend to crave. I like the unique premise. I like the way the author used the animals to help solve the mystery, I doubt that I would pick up future books of this series, unless the author introduced a love interest. If you primarily enjoy figuring out “whodunnit” and are more of a mystery purist, then you will likely enjoy this book more then I did.