With Inheritance of Loss aside, I felt free to pick up this book, which I just got this week. Reviews for this have been glowing--among the best reviewed books of the year so far. I'm 50 pages in, and I really like it. I think it has the potential to be a genre-crossing book, like The Kite Runner was. While it's mostly a family drama, I think there's some thriller potential. The prologue, which so far is completely disconnected from the main narrative, involved a shady character obcuring a very lethal poison in Pusan, Korea. The story itself is about the Sawtelle family, so far just setting up Edgar, his parents, his grandfather, and his dog.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
With Inheritance of Loss aside, I felt free to pick up this book, which I just got this week. Reviews for this have been glowing--among the best reviewed books of the year so far. I'm 50 pages in, and I really like it. I think it has the potential to be a genre-crossing book, like The Kite Runner was. While it's mostly a family drama, I think there's some thriller potential. The prologue, which so far is completely disconnected from the main narrative, involved a shady character obcuring a very lethal poison in Pusan, Korea. The story itself is about the Sawtelle family, so far just setting up Edgar, his parents, his grandfather, and his dog.
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I wonder if you might be interested in receiving a review copy of another dog book, this one actually narrated entirely by a labrador (but no, it's not the Starbucks book).
A DOG AMONG DIPLOMATS (April 2008) is the second book in a quirky mystery series by J.F. Englert. The first book, A DOG ABOUT TOWN was published in May 2007, and the third book, A DOG AT SEA, is scheduled for publication in April/May of 2009.
I'm helping author J.F. Englert reach out to bloggers, and I'd be happy to send you review copies of either or both books if you're interested!
An overview of the books and excerpts from reviews already in are below.
Best,
Eleanor
adogabouttown@gmail.com
BULL MOOSE DOG RUN MYSTERY SERIES - A Dog About Town, A Dog Among Diplomats
In writing this fanciful mystery series, Englert adopts the daring and original conceit of employing a first-person narration by a labrador-cum-detective, Randolph. The first book in the series, A Dog About Town, was recognized with the 2007 fiction award from The Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA).
Unbeknownst to his owners, Randolph (a black lab) is both sentient and literate--even well-read, spending much of the time that he has to himself at their Upper West Side apartment immersed in books. A year before the first novel opens, Randolph's mistress Imogen disappears without a trace, leaving behind a broken-hearted and mystified boyfriend and dog.
In A DOG ABOUT TOWN, the object of Randolph's ability to read and to reason turns from private past time to undercover detective work as he gently prods his less-enlightened owner, Harry, toward the answers behind a suspicious death--which also holds clues to Imogen's disappearance. Combining his powers of reasoning with his superior sense of smell (100,000 more powerful than that of humans), he is able to literally sniff out the trail, as well as the guilty parties.
In A DOG AMONG DIPLOMATS, Randolph dedicates himself to a second murder case—this time one with ties to the U.N. and in which Imogen is implicated as a possible suspect.
Advance praise for A DOG AMONG DIPLOMATS
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. - Publishers Weekly
LibraryThing members on A DOG AMONG DIPLOMATS
"This book reminded me of two things, both very disconnected: the old-time movie serials where the heroine is always left in utmost peril until the next sequence and P.G. Wodehouse."
"the writing is sharp and witty"
"I couldn't help but fall in love with Randolph."
"a marvelous study of character, especially the dog's, and has some of the funniest writing I've ever read in the genre."
"Like Wodehouse, [Englert] often throws off phrases that you want to reread just for the sheer pleasure of it."
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