A Tail of Two Murders

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing start to the series
Review: I can only hope that this series gets better. In this first installment, the actual crimesolving process is completely taken over by the introduction of aging, yawn inducing, hoity-toity artsy literary genius university professor types that I can't for the life of me indentify with.
Although Jackie Walsh seems to be the only one that has her feet planted firmly on the ground, her character lacks some serious depth. Same goes for Lieutenant McGowan, who is supposed to be falling for her to give the story a romantic spin. It's just not happening.
Jake, the "crime solving" dog, is smart and lovable, but doesn't solve any crimes. He's nothing more than a sideline player until the very end of the book. He is described as a dog of "advanced age", although his actual age is never mentioned. This makes me wonder how the author is going to pull off the numerous sequels of the book, considering that large breed dogs don't normally live to be 15. I define an older dog to be somewhere around 9 or 10 years of age, but I'm willing to cut some slack here because Jake is a retired police dog and - correct me if I'm wrong - the police force usually retires their canines at an early age. I'm really wondering how much Melissa Cleary actually knows about dogs.
The ending is too sudden and ill refined, like falling off a cliff after a long, tedious climb.
Furthermore, the title "A Tail of Two Murders" is slightly misleading, since the story really evolves around three murders.
I already bought the second title in the series when I bought this one, so I'm going to read it and hope that things will get better and more entertaining from here on out.

Rating:
Summary: A TAIL OF TWO MURDERS
Review: I have read all of Ms. Cleary's books, but this one remains my favorite. It is a must read and an excellent addition to the library as well.

Rating:
Summary: For Dog and Mystery Lovers
Review: I loved this book. It blended enough plot with interesting characters, omitted a plethora of violence and gore and even tossed in a heroic family pet. Jake is great.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Its not that the dog is so smart,its that the people are so dense!