The Lost by Jeffrey B. Burton

 

First Line: The guest stirred the stew of fish, crab, salted pork, okra, and herbs with a silver spoon, pushing the polenta off to the side, saving it for last.

 

When billionaire Kenneth Druckman is assaulted and his wife and daughter kidnapped, Mace Reid and his dogs are called in by the FBI. Reid calls his dogs The Finders. They are HRD (Human Remains Detection)-- cadaver-- dogs, and when one of Reid's dogs finds the body of Druckman's wife, the search for Druckman's little girl intensifies.

 

But... the trail Reid's dog, Vira, found leads straight back to Druckman himself. With the help of Chicago Police Detective Kippy Gimm, Reid and his Finders not only need to locate a little five-year-old girl but to get to the bottom of the entire mystery. 

 

Just what in the world is Druckman up to?

 

~

 

Jeffrey B. Burton's series featuring the irreverent Mace Reid and his fabulous pack of dogs keeps getting better, and I enjoyed every single page of his latest, The Lost.  The fast pace, the twists and turns of the plot, and the wit and humor all combine with the human and canine personalities for an exciting, fun ride.

Dog lovers should really get a kick out of The Lost, as each dog has a distinctive personality and knows exactly how to work Mace. I love how Reid chooses his dogs' names from song titles, too-- for example, Maggie (May), (A Boy Named) Sue, (El)Vira. Yes, Reid's star dog's name is pronounced Vira as in virus, not Vira as in veering off course. I'm vintage enough to know all the songs, so the dogs' names have a tendency to create their own playlist in my head.

There are some interesting bad guys to keep an eye on as well. The super-rich (and super creepy) Audrick Verlinden. He's one of these people who is convinced he's above the law, but I do have to admit that I wouldn't mind eating a meal in that dining room of his. Russian mobster Armen Kuznetsov isn't your typical brutish muscle, it's his companion that you need to keep your eye on. And the more you learn about billionaire Kenneth Druckman, the more you want to take a bath. 

As good as the bad guys are, the folks wearing white hats shine even more brightly. I love Mace and his dogs, but the kidnapped five-year-old Eleanor Scarf Druckman stole my heart. What a star! 

Some readers may scoff at how Burton has a tendency to have Mace pull rabbits out of his hat to get out of tight spots, but what saves these situations for me is two-fold. One, the solution doesn't just appear out of thin air; the author actually plants the seeds much earlier in the book and it's up to the reader to see those seeds for what they are and contemplate how they're going to be useful later on. Two, I love how Mace Reid himself describes these moments: Cheeta riding in on a herd of elephants to save the day. Having watched more than one Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movie in my youth, this paints such a vivid picture in my mind that I have to smile.

If you're in the mood for a fast-paced thriller that's a ton of fun to read, by all means, get your hands on a copy of The Lost. There's enough backstory to prevent reader confusion, but don't be surprised if you find yourself looking for the previous books in the series. 

The Lost by Jeffrey B. Burton

eISBN: 9781250808639

Minotaur Books © 2022

eBook, 288 pages

 

Police Procedural, #3 Mace Reid K-9 mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

The Keepers by Jeffrey B. Burton

 

First Line: I spent the bulk of the call with my eyes shut, thinking I was still asleep and in some kind of lucid dream.

 

"The Finders" is Mason "Mace" Reid's pack of dogs trained to find dead bodies. The star of the pack is Vira (short for Elvira), a golden retriever. Called out from his home on the outskirts of Chicago, what Mace and Vira find in Washington Park at 3 in the morning starts a chain of events that soon has them running for their lives.

 

Mace and Chicago PD officer Kippy Gimm find themselves in a nightmare of treachery and corruption, not knowing whom they can trust on their quest for justice. 

~

Jeffrey Burton's second Mace Reid K-9 mystery is fast-paced and filled with tension and suspense as readers try to outguess Mace and Kippy. Are they asking for help from the right people, or are they walking right into a trap? This aspect of The Keepers certainly kept me turning the pages even though I usually knew when they were headed right for that trap. 

Of course, the biggest draw to this book and series for me is the canine one. The fact that Mace names his dogs after songs is endearing. His dogs are Elvira, Delta Dawn, the rambunctious puppy Billie Joe, Maggie May, and the alpha male named Sue. (Johnny Cash, anyone?) Probably the thing I love most about Mace's relationship with his dogs is that he listens to them. There's another series set in Los Angeles that I'm tiring of even though the stories are really good. Why am I tiring of them? Because every time the man's dog alerts him to danger, the man ignores him (and usually gets beaten up). Idiot! There's none of that stupidity here.

If you're in the mood for engaging, fast-paced stories filled with talented working dogs and the human who trains and works with them, find yourself the two books in this series, The Finders and The Keepers. I'm looking forward to Mace and Vira's next assignment.

 

The Keepers by Jeffrey B. Burton

eISBN: 9781250795861

Minotaur Books © 2021

eBook, 288 pages

 

Police Procedural, #2 Mace Reid K-9 mystery

Rating: A-

Source: Net Galley

The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton

First Line: Christine Dack was hung over.

Mason "Mace" Reid lives on the outskirts of Chicago and trains dogs in human remains detection. It's been a rough year for him. Not only has his marriage fallen apart, but he's also mourning the death of a beloved dog. Mace adopts a golden retriever puppy he names Elvira, and when Elvira's training as a cadaver dog begins, Mace begins learning just how special the dog is.

With zero warning, Mace and "Vira" find themselves in the middle of a murder case and working with a Chicago police officer named Kippy Gimm. It's up to the three of them to stop a serial killer who now has Mace himself in his sights.

Jeffrey Burton has created a main character with a wonderful voice. Mace Reid had me in the palm of his hand throughout the book, whether he was explaining why his marriage ended in divorce (there's a huge gap between his wife "liking" dogs and Mace's "loving" dogs) or when he was describing a waste-of-space employee named Tommy B.

The mystery in The Finders is a strong one with a fast pace that doesn't let up. CPD officer Kippy Gimm (I hope the next book explains her strange name) insists that Elvira the dog is touched by the supernatural because of something that happened when she was a puppy, but that can be easily overlooked by readers who dislike woo-woo and understand how incredibly tuned to their people dogs can be. One thing is certain, however. Vira isn't your usual dog-in-a-mystery. She does something in the opening chapters that stunned and even made me a bit queasy. (Someone calls her "a tornado that bites".) But that's the only (brief) scene that tender-hearted readers need to worry about.

Burton has created a strong trio in Mace, Vira and Kippy, and I'm certainly looking forward to their next assignment.

The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton

eISBN: 9781250244543

Minotaur Books © 2020

eBook, 288 pages

Police Procedural, #1 Mace Reid K-9 mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley