Rating: 
Summary: Dreadfully dull!
Review: As with most authors, Carol Benjamin writes about what she knows, and as a dog trainer, she knows dogs. Unforfunately, she incorporates a little too much dog knowledge in this first novel. Approximately 90% of the book revolves around dogs (training, showing, grooming, breeding, etc., etc., etc.). Instead of being a mystery novel with a dog component, it reads more like a dog book with a murder thrown in as an aside. Realizing that the main characters are PI Rachel Alexander and her pitbull, Dashiell, I know this series is going to have a dog component making it different from the majority of mystery series and giving it great potential. Hopefully this author will tone down the dog information and beef up the mystery portion a little.
Rating:
Summary: Dreadfully dull!
Review: As with most authors, Carol Benjamin writes about what she knows, and as a dog trainer, she knows dogs. Unforfunately, she incorporates a little too much dog knowledge in this first novel. Approximately 90% of the book revolves around dogs (training, showing, grooming, breeding, etc., etc., etc.). Instead of being a mystery novel with a dog component, it reads more like a dog book with a murder thrown in as an aside. Realizing that the main characters are PI Rachel Alexander and her pitbull, Dashiell, I know this series is going to have a dog component making it different from the majority of mystery series and giving it great potential. Hopefully this author will tone down the dog information and beef up the mystery portion a little.
Rating: 
Summary: good book, read her non-fiction
Review: Carol Lea Benjamin's always a fun writer to read. Her nonfiction books are excellent & are a good way to find out how to train dogs. Her fiction isn't always accurate & often gives misleading pictures of how dogs are trained & what they can do. For instance, just because you have a therapy dog, you're not entitled to go to restaurants & to other places that don't allow dogs. That's reserved for guide dogs & assistive dogs, not for therapy dogs. However, the plots are always fun & interesting. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Real detective, real dog
Review: I liked this book very much. Rachel seems like a real person, and Dash seems like a real dog (by which I mean, he's not some anthropomorphized cutesy little woof-woof thing, he acts like an actual dog). The mystery kept me puzzled and interested til the end, the subsidiary characters were interesting and well fleshed out, and I thought the writing style was pleasant and flowed well. I went back and found the other two titles in the series, and I hope there'll be more after that.
Rating:
Summary: Real detective, real dog
Review: I liked this book very much. Rachel seems like a real person, and Dash seems like a real dog (by which I mean, he's not some anthropomorphized cutesy little woof-woof thing, he acts like an actual dog). The mystery kept me puzzled and interested til the end, the subsidiary characters were interesting and well fleshed out, and I thought the writing style was pleasant and flowed well. I went back and found the other two titles in the series, and I hope there'll be more after that.
Rating: 
Summary: Uhhh
Review: I love Susan Conent books and expeted this was simmlilar but it wasn't. It was catchy at the beginning but the rest was just boring.
Rating: 
Summary: Dash is quite a pup!
Review: I thoroughly enjoy Carol's books. They are fun to read, flowing, interesting tales. Pick one up!
Rating:
Summary: Love Dogs? A Superb Mystery? Fine Writing?
Review: If you love dogs, a superb mystery, and fine writing, this book was written for you...... The hero, clearly, is pit bull Dash; and Ms. Benjamin presents him as a totally believable participant in his "partner's" investigation into murder. Interspersed throughout the book are some clues into what makes Dash's human counterpart, Rachel Alexander, tick....almost a mystery within a mystery....and Rachel's periodic rules for private detectives are delightful. So also is the little basenji Magritte, who has quite a personality of his own; and the reader will get a peek into the inside world of dog shows. Sit back, relax, enjoy a good read, and be prepared to anticipate the next book in the series!
Rating: 
Summary: For hard-boiled fans
Review: Most so-called hard-boiled mysteries written by women are really more medium-boiled and contain some elements of the cozy, but not this one. "This Dog for Hire" has too gritty and depressive an ambience for my taste. It's not all bad, though. The plot is clever enough, and the dogs are well-portrayed: Dash and Magritte are by far the most likable characters in the book and actually made it worth reading. I also enjoyed the inside look at the Westminster dog show. If you like both truly hard-boiled detective fiction and canines, you'll probably find this a good read.
Rating:
Summary: For hard-boiled fans
Review: Most so-called hard-boiled mysteries written by women are really more medium-boiled and contain some elements of the cozy, but not this one. "This Dog for Hire" has too gritty and depressive an ambience for my taste. It's not all bad, though. The plot is clever enough, and the dogs are well-portrayed: Dash and Magritte are by far the most likable characters in the book and actually made it worth reading. I also enjoyed the inside look at the Westminster dog show. If you like both truly hard-boiled detective fiction and canines, you'll probably find this a good read.
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