Review: Psychic Detective Looking for a Quiet Life
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 1, 2013
"The Dog Who Ate the Airplane" is as much a character study and a picture of small-town life as it is a mystery, and it works well as all three. Adam, the central character, a crime reporter in Chicago, is also a reluctant psychic investigator who has helped police solve many cases. He and his editor soon wind up at a small-town newspaper in West Virginia. After the case Adam solves in the first chapter, one can understand why they might both want to go to such an out-of-the-way place.Adam is dealing with the demands generated by his fame as a psychic detective, with problems created by the unwanted publicity he has received for winning several lotteries, and with the imminent death of his beloved mother. He is a kind and generous man who prefers a quiet and peaceful life, just what he has not had yet. His mother bequeaths him her dog, Bagel the beagle, who just happens to have some psychic abilities of his own. Well, all dogs have a little of that, don't they? But Bagel's talents are well developed, making him an able sidekick for Adam.Before Adam gets comfy in his apartment in the town's historical hotel, murder strikes, and his talents as a crime reporter and psychic are called upon once again. He sets out covering the incident while settling into his new life, establishing a charitable foundation with part of his lottery winnings, meeting the town folks, eating quite a bit, and sort of staying on the lookout for an attractive woman he might like.Being a former small-town reporter who did the crime beat and just about everything else, I can say with certainty that the slow pace of life shown here and the people who populate this town are true to life. It's a long way from the fast pace of most contemporary life, but it is a way of life that still persists. This story, though not told at the blasting speed of much current fiction, meanders along at the appropriate rhythm for its locale and characters, and it gets to where it's going quite nicely.I have only one little persnickety problem with the tale, and that is Adam's assumed name in his new home: Ram. There may be something here that I'm not getting, but for me it doesn't suit Adam's personality. The name seems to crack the page with its incongruity every time I read it. Oh, yes, and, for my tastes, Adam could spend less time eating and more time doing psychic stuff.  Well, that's two things.Yet, I love psychic detectives and dogs, so this is my kind of book. All thumbs up!