Kari Jo Brockman was abducted 14 weeks previously, the latest victim of a serial murderer dubbed the Velvet Choker Killer. It all begins in textbook fashion, with the young goldie heading straight to the hidden remains of a missing young woman. Her training has gone really well, but it’s on Vira’s first real assignment that things go a little awry. The opening chapters of this debut by Jeffrey B Burton prove Vira has already had a bowlful of drama in her short life, and after Reid brings her in as replacement for his springer spaniel, who has recently died of renal failure, she repays him with youthful exuberance and searching skills that are second to none. As well as the aforementioned Elvira, who is the newbie of the pack, there are Delta Dawn and Maggie May, sister short haired collies, and a male German Shepherd named Sue! Music fans will get a kick out of their names. Reid is a canine trainer, based in Illinois – some call him a ‘dog whisperer’ – and besides training dogs for other people he has a freelance gig with the police for his team of human remains detection dogs who, in short, find dead bodies.

She’s a good girl is Vira, quite content to sit and stay… until something raises her hackles. It’s time to open the pages of The Finders and meet the latest recruit, a young golden retriever called Elvira, owned by Mace Reid.

From Rin Tin Tin and Lassie, through to Scooby Doo and Hooch, dogs have certainly played their part in fighting crime over the years.

The finders jeffrey burton