Rating: 2 stars

When animal behaviorist Pru Marlowe arrived for her daily walk with Lily, a pit bull and former fighting dog, she could tell something was wrong. Upon entering the house, Pru found Lily’s owner, Charles Harris, dead on the floor with his throat ripped out and Lily standing over him with blood on her muzzle.

Although Pru knows that Lily would no longer hurt another animal, much less the human that saved her from a tortuous life, it was going to take a lot more than her word to convince the authorities.

Since Pru had left the big city to return to her childhood home in the Berkshires, she has managed to adjust to small town life again, while she learned to get a handle on the one thing she couldn’t run from—her ability to hear and speak to animals.

Now Pru, is going to have to work through small town mentalities and gossip in order to clear not only Lily’s name, but her own and figure out who killed Charles; all while keeping her own animal instincts a secret.

Clea Simon started out strong, she introduced an interesting character (Pru), who had the remarkable ability to hear and speak to animals. Then she added suspense in intrigue when a horrible murder is committed that implicates a very gentle, rescued pit bull with a violent past. Only Pru can prove the dog’s innocence and save her life; but she can’t reveal how she knows.

Half way through the book, there’s still nothing of significance happening and even less motivation to find out who killed Charles. The big reveal at the end fails to pack a punch or even stir any interest. The story contains way too much filler and not enough action.

Despite an interesting concept, Dogs Don’t Lie lacks in execution, sending the first installment of Clea Simon’s new Pet Noir series out with a whimper.
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Hardcover: 260 pages
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (April 5, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-1590588604