Sleeping Dogs Die

Sally Tepper is one of the most original heroines to join the ranks of amateur sleuths. Unfortunately, her debut is marred by King's ( Raya ) convoluted plot and an abundance of happenstance that is beyond the realm of possibility. An unemployed actress who works as a restaurant cashier, Sally also rescues stray dogs. She and her waifs share a one-room apartment in New York's Hell's Kitchen, where she leads the fight against gentrification. When her blind confidant and neighbor, Albert Fuchs, and his German shepherd seeing-eye dog, Elizabeth, are murdered, the police inform Sally that she is the co-signor on the dead man's bank account of $191,000. When one of her dogs is slain, she suspects a connection between the three killings. Vowing to find the fiend, she searches Albert's apartment and discovers an album with photos of Elizabeth and two other German shepherds. A trail of clues point to the blind man as the mastermind of an organization that provides crooks with German shepherds trained to identify undercover cops. Learning that two of the three wonder dogs are dead, but one remains at liberty, she sets out to locate the animal to resolve the mystery. Spirited, appealing Sally deserves a more compelling plot in her next outing. (Nov.)