cover image Rising Dog

Rising Dog

Vincent Kohler. St. Martin's Press, $18.95 (274pp) ISBN 978-0-312-07075-5

Restless Oregon reporter Eldon Larkin, seen before in Rainy North Woods , takes a shot at breaking big news in Kohler's methodical, entertaining mystery. Larkin is disparaging when former alcoholic tugboat captain turned preacher Jasper O'Shay says he has brought his dead dog back to life, but the reporter sees a legitimate story when O'Shay and his likably witless followers vow to fight a condo development proposed for the landfill next to their trailer-camp church grounds. After the ``resurrected'' dog finds a mummified foot in the landfill, radical environmentalist John Henspeter is murdered. Investigating these events brings the sex-starved Larkin into contact with nymphomaniacal equestrienne Enola Gay Hansen, Henspeter's former girl friend and daughter of County Commissioner ``Pumpkin Joe'' Nedlee, outspoken condo supporter. More skeletons, Scandinavian bikers, secret jujitsu cults and ``workouts'' with electric current (``Keeps the muscles loose'') lead up to a resolution less surprising than the wild, eccentric setup might lead readers to expect. (Mar.)