There have been a lot of dogs in mystery fiction, from Baynard Kendrick’s guide dog to Virginia Lanier’s bloodhounds, but there’s never been one quite like Carstairs. Doan, a short, chubby Los Angeles private eye, won Carstairs in a craps game, but there never was any question as to who the boss was in this relationship. Carstairs isn’t just any Great Dane. He’s so big that Doan figures he really ought to be considered another species. He scorns baby talk and belly rubs—unless administered by a pretty girl—and growls whenever Doan has a drink. He growls a lot.

His full name is Dougal’s Laird Carstairs and as a sleuth he rarely barks up the wrong tree. He’s down in Mexico with Doan, ostensibly to convince a missing fugitive that he would do well to stay put. The case is complicated by three murders, assorted villains, and a horrific earthquake that cuts the mountainous little village of Los Altos off from the rest of Mexico.

Doan and Carstairs aren’t the only unusual visitors to Los Altos. There’s Patricia Van Osdel, a ravishing blonde whose father made millions from flypaper, and Captain Emile Perona, a Mexican policeman whose long-ago Spanish ancestor helped establish Los Altos. It’s that ancestor who brings teacher Janet Martin to Mexico along with a stolen book that may contain the key to a secret hidden for hundreds of years in the village church.

Written in the snappy hardboiled style of the day, The Mouse in the Mountain was first published in 1943 and followed by two other Doan and Carstairs novels. “Each of these is fast-paced, occasionally lyrical in a hard-edged way, and often quite funny. Davis, in fact, was one of the few writers to successfully blend the so-called hardboiled story with farcical humor.”—Bill Pronzini, 1001 Midnights.

Reviews

“Deft, charming… unique… one of my top ten all time favorite novels.”
—Ed Gorman, Mystery Scene

“A laugh-a-minute romp… highly recommended.”
—I Love a Mystery

“Snazzy… breezy… sardonic… Carstairs is a definite plus.”
—Romantic Times

“The humor, the pace, the background of WWII Mexico, the surprising plot, and one of the great crime fiction earthquakes combine to ratify the high opinion pulp historians have of Davis.”
—Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

“It’s pure slapstick, marked by a brisk pace, well-measured drollery and a gallery of nutty characters that cold have bounded out of a (Preston) Sturges picture… hilarious.”
—The Drood Review

Order This Book