Lone Jack Trail

Starred review from June 22, 2020
Laukkanen brilliantly integrates psychological depth into a suspenseful whodunit plot in his superior sequel to 2019’s Deception Cove. Jess Winslow has returned from military service in Afghanistan deeply traumatized by her experience, but she’s found some solace through her service dog, Lucy, and her boyfriend, Mason Burke, an ex-con who spent more than a decade behind bars for murder. Winslow is also settling into a new job as a deputy in Washington’s Makah County under a new sheriff, who has taken over for an ineffective predecessor. Meanwhile, Brock Boyd, a hockey star who went to prison for illegal dog-fighting, has returned to the area. Boyd gets into a fistfight with Burke after Boyd mistreats Lucy, whom he discovered tied to a railing outside a restaurant where Burke was inside ordering food to go. The altercation ends with Burke on the losing end. Days later, Boyd’s corpse, with a bullet wound in its head, washes up near town, making Burke the prime suspect. The sophisticated characterizations elevate this above similarly themed books. This thriller ranks with the best work of Reed Farrel Coleman and Michael Koryta. Agent: Stacia Decker, Carlson & Lerner Literary.

August 1, 2020
Second in a series set in Deception Cove, Washington, featuring two damaged people and the dog they love. Mason Burke, who's living in Deception Cove after having served 15 years for murder in Michigan, is pummeled by local celebrity Brock "Bad" Boyd, who doesn't like his attitude. A few days later, Boyd's crab-chomped corpse washes ashore at Shipwreck Point with a bullet in the head. Too bad, because the former hockey star had been one of the town's only sources of pride, never mind that he'd gone into the dogfighting business. It's a small, down-on-its-luck town where rumors "traveled in whispers, blooming as fast as moss in the rainforest," so police receive an anonymous tip that the doer is the nearly friendless Burke. "Somebody's got to hang for this murder," says one bad guy to another. And what better fall guy than an outsider with a known prison record? Then a witness comes forward to accuse Burke, who later finds the woman with her throat slashed. Burke is a suspect, but the sheriff won't arrest him without hard evidence. Burke is romantically involved with local cop Jess Winslow, brought together by Lucy, a gentle pit bull mix that had been rescued from a dogfighting ring. Burke had worked with the dog as part of an experimental program that earned him early release from prison, and Winslow is a traumatized Marine combat veteran who later received Lucy as a companion animal. She's a tough, upright cop, and he tries hard to avoid violence. At one point, Jess seems to face a stark choice: Your career, or the man you love. All three, Lucy included, face mortal danger. They complement each other perfectly: the veteran's toughness, the ex-con's humanity, and the dog's unconditional adoration of both. All of Canadian author Laukkanen's crime novels have tense action and layered characters--except in this case, Lucy isn't that complex. High-quality crime fiction with the protagonists brought together by a dog---.

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