FROM OUR EDITORS

Internationally acclaimed as America￯﾿ﾽs preeminent crime writer for her peerless Kay Scarpetta series, Patricia Cornwell has also established herself as a wry and witty observer of the grueling nature of police work, the mind-set of investigators, and the incredible obstacles faced by police officers and administrators trying to solve a case.

Following up on her sly crime satires Hornet￯﾿ﾽs Nest and Southern Cross -- both of which were No. 1 New York Times bestsellers -- Cornwell again takes us behind the Blue Wall with the latest Andy Brazil and Judy Hammer novel, Isle of Dogs. This time Brazil and Hammer are off to Richmond, Virginia, to clean up yet another police precinct troubled by all manner of corruption, bureaucracy, and ￯﾿ﾽhelpful￯﾿ﾽ politicians and public officials. There they find a dim-witted governor with a deranged plan to distract his constituents from real problems by setting up bogus speed traps throughout the state. When the first trap is planted on Tangier Island -- even though there are virtually no cars on the small, isolated, isle -- the outraged locals take their dentist hostage, secede from the Commonwealth, and declare civil war. And that￯﾿ﾽs just the start of the crazed, crime-ridden days ahead, as Brazil and Hammer struggle to maintain order while contending with nasty local politicking, a fickle and panicked public, and a government gone deliriously haywire.

This wry, witty, and knowing look at the behind-the-scenes turmoil of police departments -- and the lives of men and women in blue -- once again showcases Cornwell's darkly comic talents. Those talents may be less familiar to the legions of Kay Scarpetta fans out there, but they are no less powerful.

ANNOTATION

Chaos breaks loose when the governor of Virginia orders that speed traps be painted on all streets and highways, warning that speeders will be caught by monitoring aircraft flying overhead. But the eccentric Isle of Tangier, fourteen miles off the coast of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay, responds by declaring war on its own state.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Chaos breaks loose when the governor of Virginia orders that speed traps be painted on all streets and highways, and warns that speeders will be caught by monitoring aircraft flying overhead. But the eccentric island of Tangier, fourteen miles off the coast of Virginia in Chesapeake Bay, responds by declaring war on its own state. Judy Hammer, newly installed as the superintendent of the Virginia State Police, and Andy Brazil, a state trooper and Hammer's right hand and confidant, find themselves at their wits' end as they try to protect the public from the politicians - and vice versa - in this pitch-perfect, darkly comic romp.

FROM THE CRITICS

Book Magazine

While Cornwell's latest audiobook, Isle of Dogs, is entertainingly narrated, it will probably appeal only to fans of lightweight mysteries. The broad plot involves a psychotic serial killer and a band of modern-day pirates, as well as police chief Judy Hammer and journalist-turned-cop Andy Brazil, both of whom appeared in Southern Cross and Hornet's Nest. Cornwell relies heavily on a whimsical but annoying story line featuring animals endowed with human intelligence. Michele Hall infuses the book with energy and brings much-needed humor to the material. —Rochelle O'Gorman

Library Journal

Having created a welcome departure from the Kay Scarpetta series with Hornet's Nest and Southern Cross, Cornwell seeks another venue in Isle of Dogs (with unabridged narration by Michelle Hall), though the change is a stylistic failure. Attempting a satiric, tongue-in-cheek approach to crime and mystery, the novel falls flat. The characters tend toward broad, poorly conceived stereotypes, and Judy Hammer, once a promising and strong female role model in law enforcement, is reduced to anxious pacing while Andy Brazil hides behind a series of internet articles by "Trooper Truth" that explore the history of Virginia and pirates. Brazil's alterego is so poorly disguised that the pure stupidity of the characters in the book keep them clueless to his real identity. The strengths of Cornwell's books have been the crises and conflicts raised in tense chess play between good and evil. In this one, wordplay buries the plot, and the result is often silly and painful. The major benefit to the abridged edition, read by Becky Baker, is the excision of some of the endless prattle in the overlapping subplots. Very disappointing; not recommended. Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile