Under the Dog Star
3.5/5
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Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Something frightening is happening in the mountain community of Mason County, Virginia. Pets are vanishing mysteriously and "Missing Dog" posters cover the waiting room walls at Dr. Rachel Goddard's veterinary clinic. A pack of feral canines roams at night, attacking livestock in a desperate search for food.
Then prominent physician Gordon Hall is found dead in his yard, his throat ripped open. Sheriff's Department investigator Tom Bridger believes the killing was premeditated murder using a trained attack dog as the weapon. He also suspects it is connected to the resurgence of an old problem: illegal dog fighting. But Dr. Hall's son insists the feral pack killed his father, and he organizes a group of men to find and shoot the animals.
Rachel and her friend Holly Turner make enemies by trying to rescue the dogs and move them to the sanctuary Holly has created. Tom, in love with Rachel and worried about her safety, must divide his time between the escalating controversy, shutting down the dog-fighting operation (if he can locate it), and hunting for Gordon Hall's killer....
Sandra Parshall
Sandra Parshall grew up in South Carolina and has worked as a reporter on newspapers in South Carolina, West Virginia, and Baltimore. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, a long-time Washington journalist, and three cats.
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Reviews for Under the Dog Star
13 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Under the Dog Star by Sandra Parshall takes the sultry dog days of summer and adds in a healthy dose of intrigue around missing dogs, a pack of feral dogs, rumors about dog fights, and a wicked killing. The action takes place in rural Virginia and the mysteries are investigated by veterinarian, Dr. Rachel Goddard, and her significant other, Deputy Sheriff Tom Bridger.The veterinary clinic has a wall filled with pictures and notices of missing dogs. There are numerous sightings of a pack of feral dogs that are attacking livestock. Now a local doctor, the owner of the local hospital, has been killed and the killing appears to have been committed by an animal, possibly a dog. It doesn't help matters any that Rachel and her assistant, Holly Turner, are trying to rescue the "feral" dogs. During these hot and sultry dog days of summer, residents are fed up. Their fire is fueled by the notion that the pack of dogs attacked and killed Dr. Hall. Dr. Hall's eldest son, Ethan Hall wants results and he's decided those results include hunting and killing the feral dogs. But as Rachel and Holly begin to trap these dogs, they come to realize the dogs aren't necessarily feral but starving. They've attacked local livestock in order to feed, nothing more. But what's behind the missing dogs and is it possible that the killing of Dr. Hall was actually murder? Was the good doctor killed by an angry ex-coworker or unhappy patient or patient's family member? Is there a link between the murder of Dr. Hall and the rumored dog fights? Rachel and Tom do their best to learn the answers to these questions while maintaining personal safety and building their relationship.There's a lot of drama as well as mystery in Under the Dog Star. Rachel gets involved in trying to salvage the lives of the adopted children of Dr. and Mrs. Hall, while racing to beat the clock and rescue the wild dogs before they are hunted down. Under the Dog Star is a quick-read mystery filled with interesting characters and tons of action.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You won’t have to wait a chapter or two for something to happen in Under the Dog Star by Sandra Parshall. It’s full of suspense from beginning to end. And the suspense doesn’t take long to become edge-of-your-seat.Rachel is a veterinarian. She lives with her boyfriend, Tom, a police captain. Both are involved with a problem in their county—a pack of feral dogs is roaming at night onto private property, sometimes injuring or killing livestock. Rachel wants to capture the dogs along with Animal Control. She knows that they were people’s pets, many of them stolen recently from backyards. Tom needs to stop some of the citizens from killing these dogs before Rachel can do that.It isn’t long before a man is killed by a vicious dog. But Tom knows this was not a dog from the pack. This was a murder by dog. In other words, some person instructed the dog to attack. And those who blame the feral dogs need to be convinced of that.Tom suspects that the vicious dog is part of a dog fighting ring. But he needs to find it before he can confirm it.Because the murdered man’s own dog was with him when he was attacked and is now hurt himself, Rachel makes house calls to attend to his injuries. During these visits, she sees how dysfunctional that family is and worries, especially, for the welfare of one young adopted daughter. During Tom’s investigation of the murder, he, too, notes this and becomes frustrated with the uncaring attitudes of all but the youngest child.And now Tom, as I said, a police captain, makes a deal with an attempted murder and vandalism suspect. I think this book needs a prosecutor. Under the Dog Star is the fourth book in a series about Rachel. Because I haven’t read the first three (yet), I can’t say when Tom becomes part of the series. But I can tell you that, in this book, Tom is as much a main character as is Rachel, maybe more.I was very pleased with Under the Dog Star. If the only thing I can criticize is the lack of a prosecutor, you can be assured that this book is a great read, suspenseful cover to cover. I recommend it.Sandra Parshall sent me this book. But if it wasn’t good, I would have said so. This is an honest review.