Coffee, Corpses, and a Curiosity

Protagonist Peter McKrall’s 15 minutes of fame on a Portland, Oregon, TV news program may be the death of him yet, as James R. Winter makes clear in his review of Lost Dog, the debut novel from Bill Cameron, posted today in January Magazine. After accidentally discovering the body of a woman in a children’s playground, McKrall--an unemployed kleptomaniac who’s adrift in his own life--expresses his anger at the deceased’s killer on the tube, and thereby convinces the murderer, known as “Jake,” that McKrall is out to get him. Writes Winter:

Jake decides to get even. He kills another woman nearby and tries to frame McKrall for both slayings. Jake is obsessive and irrational, a bundle of blind rage looking for a target. When he kills an old lady, he wonders why so much attention is given to the murder. It’s like “the President’s daughter,” he thinks. Soon, in Jake’s twisted version of logic, he’s wondering what the President’s daughter was doing way out in Portland. His rage, though, is focused on McKrall, whom he starts calling “Peterhead,” then “Peterhead Mackerel.” Oh, yes. Jake is unhinged. So much so that he sucks on his gun barrel when he’s excited.

This isn’t the only trouble coming McKrall’s way, because he spouted off on TV. He’s also being pursued obsessively by the daughter of the dead woman he found, and is considered a prime suspect in the recent slayings. Fortunately, a chance encounter with a young woman named Ruby Jane Whittaker may finally save McKrall from a vengeful death--and from his own dubious urges.

You can read all of Winter’s Lost Dog review here.