SLEEPING DOG is ONE OF THE MOST ACCLAIMED CRIME NOVELS EVER. A New York Times Book of the Year, A Nero Wolfe Award Winner An Edgar Award Finalist, A Shamus Award Finalist and an Anthony Award Finalist Named by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association as one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century. This beloved, comedy-noir thriller teams up Leo Bloodworth, a hard-drinking, middle-aged Los Angeles PI with hypertension and a low tolerance for precious teenagers, with Serendipity Dahlquist, a bright and strong-willed roller-blading 14-year-old searching for her lost dog. But things quickly escalate, plunging the oddest of odd couples into the dark underworld of sunny Southern California and pitting them against one of the biggest, and most brutal, organized crime families in Mexico. "Outclasses, in many ways, the tales of Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald and other renowned California mystery writers." Publishers Weekly "Dick Lochte is a superb craftsman." Sue Grafton “Sleeping Dog is funny and strong and a joy to read." Robert B. Parker The Nero Wolfe Award Winner, Shamus Award Nominee, Edgar Award Nominee Author of a New York Times Book of the Year, author of one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century chosen by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Dick Lochte burst onto the crime-writing scene with Sleeping Dog and has continued to take the genre by storm ever since, becoming a Los Angeles Times bestselling author of 10 books of crime fiction and earning the highest honors a writer can attain in the mystery genre. Sleeping Dog chronicles the adventures of a precocious 14-year-old girl and a weary Los Angeles private detective as they search for the girl's mother across California. It has become one of the most acclaimed crime novels ever. Lochte's detective masterpiece was nominated for the Edgar, Shamus and Anthony Awards and took home the Nero Wolfe Award. It was also named a New York Times a "Notable Book of the Year" and was selected by the Independent Mystery Booksellers of America as one of the 100 Most Popular Mystery Novels of the Century. Fans and critics alike were equally excited and impressed by the thrilling sequel, Laughing Dog. Both novels are published by Brash Books, along with his terrific short story Rappin' Dog. Lochte's many other popular crime novels, including his Terry Manion series and his Billy Blessing mysteries written with Al Roker, are every bit as masterful. His novel Blue In the Night was named one of the top five crime novels of the year by the Private Eye Writers of America. He's not just a crime fiction author, either. Lochte is also a successful screenwriter, penning scripts for actors like Jodie Foster and Roger Moore, and he is a highly respected mystery critic and historian, whose many reviews and commentaries have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Mystery Scene, and other publications. Be sure to look for his insightful commentary and reviews on the Brash Books blog. Sleeping Dog By Dick Lochte Brash Books, LLC Copyright © 2014 Dick Lochte All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-941298-09-1 CHAPTER 1 (Beginning: DOG DAYS: A Personal Account of the Kaspar-Helmdale Slayings . By Serendipity Renn Dahlquist) The following appeared in somewhat different form in the pages of the Bay High Guardian, considered by many to be the leading high-school newspaper in the Greater Los Angeles area. And yet, regardless of the Guardian's heralded integrity, its faculty advisers went soft as grapes when it came to the story's more ghoulish aspects — descriptions of the corpses and the like — as well as the admittedly gross little detours the case took. The dogfight atrocities, for example, and the brush with the Mexican Mafia and the really depraved stuff that the noble and gallant Mr. Leo Bloodworth, master detective, endured on my behalf. On one hand, I am most proud to be the only sophomore woman — no, make that the only sophomore, period — to have had anything printed in the Guardian this past year. On the other, having been hugely influenced by Mrs. Ida Sperling's lecture, "Journalism: The Truth Shall Make Us Free," and then having witnessed that same Mrs. Sperling edit significant passages from my original manuscript, every word as true as gospel, all I can say is that this writing business must be filled with continuous heartbreak. In any case, I dedicate this, my first book, to my beloved grandmother, known to her many fans as Aunt Lil Fairchild. S.R.D. Bay Heights, California 1. My last day as a hopeless junior-high-school worm was marked with merde. Veritably mottled with merde. Someone stole my slam book. (Even now, nearly a year and a half later, I remain unconvinced that I simply misplaced it!) Then, Sylvia Leonidas, my supposedly best friend, with whom and with whose parents I had planned on motoring through the great Northwest, dropped the bomb that she had managed to get herself with child, thanks to some George person.