Revisiting “A Dog Among Diplomats” by J.F. Englert and Giveaway

In my most recent giveaway, I told you that last year, I had been delighted to discover Randolph, the mystery-solving black labrador that writes his own books and even has his own blog. This year, Randolph has come out with a new book, and in order to celebrate, his human dependent, J.F. Englert, is sponsoring giveaways of the first two books, with three winners for each!

Last week, I reprinted my review of the first book and then held a giveaway that’s still open! This week, I’m reprinting my review of the second book and then, if you like what you read, you can enter the giveaway for it. And now, without further ado:

Review of A Dog Among Diplomats

A Dog Among Diplomats is the second in the new “Bull Moose Dog Run Mystery Series” by J.F. Englert. These are delightful mysteries told from the point of view of a very proper, educated (self-taught from training newspapers) dog. Randolph is sentient, but more educated (in his own opinion) than other dogs.

This black Labrador retriever and his master Harry are suffering from the disappearance of Imogen, Harry’s girlfriend and Randolph’s original owner. Harry doesn’t realize Randolph is sentient, and Randolph himself doesn’t quite understand the phenomenon, but certainly wants to keep it a secret. “Only recently,” Randolph confides, “had I watched a National Geographic team on television sedate a harbor seal for ‘its own good’ and attach a camera to its head.’” Nevertheless, there are some moments when he just has to communicate with Harry. In the first book, he used Harry’s Alpha-Bits. In the second book, Harry believes he has developed a wheat allergy, and so rids the house of little letters that can be pushed into place by a canine nose. The intrepid Randolph has no choice but to go online, set himself up with an email account, and try (not always successfully) to bypass all the book sales (sometimes with accompanying free tote bag!) and send messages to Harry.

The reason for urgency is yet another murder that, as in the first novel, is somehow tied to the missing Imogen. In order to get to the bottom of things, Randolph finds he must ignore the rich smells of food and analyze the more complex scents of human emotions. In the process of helping to solve the crime, Randolph has a number of adventures: riding about town on the back of a Vespa; mingling at the U.N. among diplomats; falling ill (he felt “a bit eleven o’clockish, as Pooh Bear might say”); foiling some other murder attempts; and saving Harry’s life. All in a day’s work for this lover of liver sausage, crème-filled donuts, belly rubs, and James Joyce.

Englert takes a little time to hit his stride again in this second book; some of Randolph’s adventures are a bit over the top; and one of the characters even drops out from the plot! All the same it’s light and silly and endearing and fun. I look forward to reading more about the likeable Harry and Randolph.

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GIVEAWAY

To enter this contest to win one of three copies of A Dog Among Diplomats, do any of the following:

1. Leave a comment on this post about a pet you have had or that had you. You must include an email address in your comments. If I can’t find a way to contact you I will draw another winner. (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway. (Posting the giveaway on your sidebar is also acceptable.) Leave a separate comment with a link to your post. (1 entry)

3. Subscribe to my rss feed, and/or follow me on Google Reader (current subscribers are eligible too). Leave a separate comment for this. (1 entry)

4. Subscribe to Randolph’s blog, and/or follow him on Google Reader (current subscribers are eligible too). Leave a separate comment for this. (1 entry)

5. Tweet this post on Twitter. Leave me a separate comment with your twitter user name. (TWO ENTRIES)

There are a lot of ways to enter, but you must LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT for each one or they will not count. I will be using random.org to pick THREE WINNERS from the comments.

This contest is open to entries from the U.S. only. (Immigration doesn’t let dogs fill out customs forms. It is perhaps unfairly assumed that they are not too sharp after sniffing all those drugs.) The deadline for entry is midnight, November 17. I will draw and post the winners’ names on November 18th.

Note: There’s also still time to enter the giveaway for the first book, A Dog About Town!