For nonhuman characters, I went whole dog and read The
Unscratchables by Cornelius Kane. It’s a take on the noir detective genre but
all the characters are various kinds of cats and dogs. It opens with a messy murder and Max
“Crusher” McNash on the case. Soon, Cassius Lap of the Feline Bureau of
Investigation is called in to assist.
I had trouble telling what the time frame was supposed to
be. Based on Crusher’s past, it seemed like it might be post-WWII or possibly
Vietnam since the main genre focus is on the 1950s detective genre. But there were
references to Wizard Whelp, Jack Russell Crowe, and other more modern pop
culture phenomena. It was hard to tell.
Kane did a good job painting it like an animal’s world with
language: janglers instead of phones, bobblers instead of heads, chasing tails
instead of going in circles, etc. I enjoyed the puns like the street names,
PAVLOV, and various character names. Kane included several different jokes that
were fun to discover.
It’s a light and easy read. Given the time of year, perfect
for the beach.
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