Skull and Dog Bones

Film instructor Jackie Walsh and her ex-police dog, Jake, return to investigate the suspicious death of a Hollywood has-been. Former screenwriter Ralph Perrin sends Jackie his biography of an early female director, hoping she can help him get it published. Before Jackie can tell Ralph his work is a dud, he is found floating face down in the pool of his seedy hotel and the manuscript is stolen from Jackie's house. Jackie and her ``policeman-friend'' Michael McGowan pursue the case both in Hollywood and back in Palmer, spurred on by a second murder and, in the home stretch, by Stuart Goodwillie, a local millionaire who enacts a plan to catch the murderer. Cleary's ( Dog Collar Crime ) latest is a lame tale with unconvincing elements, as when the Hollywood police invite Jackie to investigate in the film and academic communities. Moreover, policeman Michael is remarkably lacking in intelligence and initiative. When Jackie at one point warns him that if things go wrong, he could be blamed, Michael says, ``You're right. . . . Should I . . . call the whole thing off?'' Jackie says no, so Michael obeys like a good doggie while Jackie and Jake rev up for their dramatic finale. (Jan.)