Without a Word

Private investigator Rachel Alexander and her pit bull Dashiell return in this stylish, dark, emotionally complex seventh mystery from former detective and noted dog trainer Carol Lea Benjamin. When a distraught father approaches private investigator Rachel Alexander in a New York City park, asking her to help find his missing wife, Rachel acceptsreluctantly. After all, the chances of finding a woman who disappeared without a traceand without a wordfive years earlier are slim. But it's the missing woman's daughter who touches her most deeplya troubled young girl whose mother's disappearance has rendered her mute. The child is also suspected of the murder of her doctor, a rich neurologist who was brutally stabbed one night while he was alone in his office. Rachel knows the disturbed girl can't be a murderer, but her investigation reveals that against all odds, it could be someone from her past. And against a backdrop of betrayal, neglect, and a city at times as lonely and frightening as a child's worst nightmares, Rachel's involvement in the case uncovers issues more complex, and more heartbreaking, than she's ever seenproblems that someone was willing to die, or even kill, for.

Private investigator Rachel Alexander and her pit bull Dashiell return in this stylish, dark, emotionally complex seventh mystery from former detective and noted dog trainer Carol Lea Benjamin. When a distraught father approaches private investigator Rachel Alexander in a New York City park, asking her to help find his missing wife, Rachel acceptsreluctantly. After all, the chances of finding a woman who disappeared without a traceand without a wordfive years earlier are slim. But it's the missing woman's daughter who touches her most deeplya troubled young girl whose mother's disappearance has rendered her mute. The child is also suspected of the murder of her doctor, a rich neurologist who was brutally stabbed one night while he was alone in his office. Rachel knows the disturbed girl can't be a murderer, but her investigation reveals that against all odds, it could be someone from her past. And against a backdrop of betrayal, neglect, and a city at times as lonely and frightening as a child's worst nightmares, Rachel's involvement in the case uncovers issues more complex, and more heartbreaking, than she's ever seenproblems that someone was willing to die, or even kill, for.