A Pug's Tale

by Alison Pace

Overview

The long-awaited follow-up to Pug Hill—from "a poignant and very funny" (Washington Post) writer.

Hope McNeill has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for years, but this is the first time she's been able to bring along her pug, Max (without sneaking him in in her tote bag). The occasion is a party for an Animals in 19th-Century Art exhibit, but the evening ends badly when a small but important painting seems to be missing. The Met needs Hope's-and Max's-help. And Hope has to keep it all a secret from her beloved, Manhattan DA Ben Brown.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425241196
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/07/2011
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Alison Pace is the author of the novels If Andy Warhol Had A Girlfriend, Pug Hill, Through Thick And Thin, and City Dog. Her essays have been included in several anthologies including Howl: A Collection Of The Best Contemporary Dog Wit. She lives in New York City where she is at work on another book.

Editorial Reviews

Pace's cute sequel to Pug Hill sends pug-lover Hope McNeill into a madcap search for an art thief. The two great loves of Hope's life are her job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and her boyfriend's pug, Max. So when the Met hosts a pug-themed gala in honor of a wealthy donor, the event seems tailor-made for Hope—until Max causes a scene and Hope has to rush him into her office, where they discover that a valuable painting has been stolen and replaced with a fake. Museum brass tell Hope they're not involving the police, but Hope wants to help recover the painting however she can, especially since she's a possible suspect. As she puzzles out the clues, help comes from unexpected places—an heiress and fellow pug enthusiast, a private investigator, and Max, whose intuition and problem-solving skills are pretty remarkable for a pug. Though a sharp reader might spot the culprit a mile away, and readers' enjoyment of the story will be directly proportional to how much they love pugs, Pace has concocted a charming mystery-lite with abundant personality. (June)

Publishers Weekly

In this cupcake of a novel, a pug helps solve an art heist at the Met.

Hope McNeill finally gets to show off Max at work (though she smuggles him to work everyday in his own Sherpa bag) at a fundraiser at the Metropolitan Museum of Art called "Pug Night." A soiree conceived to ingratiate an eccentric patron, pugs are running through the great halls of the Met, providing the perfect diversion for a heist. Before returning home, Hope checks her workstation (she's a restoration artist for the museum) and finds a Fantin-Latour painting of pansies propped against the door. On closer inspection, she discovers it's a forgery, and the spot where the real painting should be hanging on exhibit is empty. She calls her boss Elliot and the PR guy Gil, but oh, there is something suspicious afoot. Both Elliot and Gil insist that they hush up the theft and hire a private detective, a move that strikes Hope as peculiar (shouldn't they notify the police, or at least the museum directors?), but as they hang the forgery on the gallery wall Hope decides to crack the case herself, as it's becoming clear that Elliot and Gil suspect her. With the help of Daphne Markham, the elderly guest of honor at the Met's "Pug Night," Hope begins piecing the clues together. This is easier than one would expect because someone is actually sending Hope the clues. Like a scavenger hunt, Hope is traipsing through the museum, using her fine arts knowledge to follow one clue to the next, as she gets closer to the thief. And of course Max helps by growling at important moments. There is a subplot involving Hope's boyfriend, a lawyer in Africa doing aid work, but the important couple in this novel is Hope and little Max, sniffing out clues until they discover the authentic Fantin-Latour.

Though there have been plenty of fine dog-centered books (Virginia Woolf'sFlushand J.R. Ackerley'sMy Dog Tulipcome to mind), silliness reigns in this slight detective story.

Kirkus Reviews