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The Mouse in the Mountain
The Mouse in the Mountain
Doan is a detective and Carstairs his enormous canine companion (don't call him a "pet"), and in this first hard-boiled adventure they travel to Mexico, along with an heiress, a revolutionary, an artist, and more than a few mysteries.
Book Excerpt
his trip just a rumor?"
"Here he comes," said Janet.
Bartolome trotted down the terrace steps and leaned in the door. "Starting instantly in a few moments. Have the kindness of patience in waiting for the more important passengers."
"Who are they?" Henshaw demanded, interested.
"The lady of incredible richness with the name of Patricia Van Osdel and her parasites."
"No fooling!" Henshaw exclaimed. "You hear that, Doan? Patricia Van Osdel. She's the flypaper queen. Her old man invented stickum that flies like the taste of, and he made fifty billion dollars out of it"
"Is she married?" Mrs. Henshaw asked suspiciously.
"That is a vulgarness to which she would not stoop," said Bartolome. "She has a gigolo. They come! Prepare yourselves!"
A short, elderly lady as thin as a pencil, dressed all in black that wrinkled and rustled and glistened in the sun, came out on the terrace and down the steps. She had a long, sallow face with a black wart on one cheek and t
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Readers reviews
4.4
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Delightful. Love how Davis' satirizes his own country.
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Once again I must throw cold water. While there is a degree of charm in these short mysteries by Davis, all-in-all they are little more than low-end pulp. The humor adds some readability, and those who really like dogs might well be attracted to the mutt, but otherwise there simply isn't much here.
Mainly a character problem for me, I think, in that the characters, while strongly delineated, seem un-rounded.
Mainly a character problem for me, I think, in that the characters, while strongly delineated, seem un-rounded.
05/31/2013
Fun and fast. Love the dog. Well written and kept my interest. I don't usually get into the hard boiled detective stories, but so well written that even though I didn't really like the main character, I still wanted to know what happened. I will be downloading the rest of his books.
08/28/2010
I was amazed when I found that Ludwig Wittgenstein was a gread admirer of this novel and would have written a fan letter if he could have found the publisher's address. Totally hilarious.
02/27/2009
Terrific! I loved it. Read "Holocaust House" (the short story that introduces Doan & Carstairs) first to get a feel for the characters. Davis writes well, and the books are such fun! I wish there were more of them.
12/24/2007
Light reading but a fine detective/adventure story in Mexico at the time of WW2, with complex characters and good, sometimes surreal humour. Only the dog isn't from the Earth which is the point, however.
09/10/2007
This is the first and best of an absolutely delightful series of humor-tinged mysteries featuring the quixotic Doan and his Great Dane partner. The only trouble is that there aren't enough of them.
08/21/2007
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