Publisher's Summary:

While in quarantine at Three Oaks Kennels, Jove, a charming male black Labrador, has earned a special place in John Cunningham's heart. So when Jove's owner comes to take his dog to America, John can't help feeling a little sad.

After leaving the office, they find to their horror that John's car has vanished, along with Jove, his owner's briefcase, and John's shotgun ...

John's car has seen better days, so whoever stole it must have been after its contents. But who would want to kidnap Jove? And what was in the briefcase that made its owner so jumpy?

In trouble with the authorities for losing both a dog in quarantine and a shotgun, Cunningham quickly finds himself embroiled in the police inquiries -- inquiries that quickly become a murder case when a woman's bod is found near a burnt-out car.

 About the author:

Gerald Hammond lives in the Scottish Highlands, where he hunts fishes, and writes his Cunningham and Calder mysteries.

Comment: This is the seventh in a series of 12 mysteries in the John Cunningham/Henry Kitts series. Cunningham is a former British Army soldier and veteran of the Falklands campaign who runs a kennel in Scotland and trains dogs for field work. Henry is a retired friend who helps out at the kennel and in Cunningham's mysteries. This novel has too much explanation and too little action for my taste, but it's worth reading, and I'll try some others in the series.
--Dick Lipsey.