Review by Booklist Review
Walking home one rainy night, PI Dan Delon finds a cat under a Dumpster adjacent to a homemade poster about a lost cat. He takes it to its owner, Charlotte Mardou, and chats with her until the rain stops. The next day, they make a date. But she's a no-show, doesn't answer her phone or doorbell, is never at the bookshop she owns, and hasn't been reported missing. At a dead end, Dan takes his next case: searching for a painting a wheelchair-bound old millionaire wants and meeting the kind of resistance Philip Marlowe met sleuthing for another wheelchair-bound old millionaire in The Big Sleep. Hard-boiled fans will have already sniffed out the allusion in the bookshop, but however the scent entices them, they'll have to swallow the immense sf MacGuffin Jason inserts into the lengthiest and maybe most romantic mystery scenario his lean, animal-headed personae have ever performed. Luckily, if the plot developments are Chandleresque, the dialogue largely is not, which entirely suits the solemn-faced cast, who make Bogie look like Jim Carrey. Delicious . . . heartwarming, too.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A humorous PI story populated by animals takes a turn toward the absurd in the newest-and longest yet-graphic novel by Jason (Athos in America). Dan, a dog detective who evokes Humphrey Bogart's down-on-their-luck antiheroes, is consumed by a chance connection brought about when he discovers a lost cat. Dan's normal assignments are anything but feel-good; he spies on cheating spouses with the end result that no one is happy. When he finds a cat for Charlotte, a charming bookstore owner, he connects with her instantly, and when she disappears, he continues the conversation they might have had. An introduction of aliens to the plot adds a light and strange flavor, but echoes the protagonist's feeling of loneliness in a strange world. Jason's artwork is charming, and he evokes a surprising amount of pathos with a cartoon dog. The plot, an enjoyable crime noir lark that gives homage to The Big Sleep, is almost incidental to the surprisingly deep story about the relationships people create in their heads. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
