Laughing Dog: A Leo Bloodworth and Serendipity Dahlquist Novel

Leo Bloodworth And Serendipity Dahlquist #2

by Dick Lochte

Very good in very good dust jacket.(bookplate mostly hidden by front flap, light edgewear to the dj.) SIGNED hardcover - New Arbor House,, (1988.). SIGNED hardcover -. Very good in very good dust jacket.(bookplate mostly hidden by front flap, light edgewear to the dj.). Book club edition. The second Leo Bloodworth and Serendipity Dahlquist mystery. SIGNED on the title page. 380 pp.

Genres: Mystery

395 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Dick Lochte, author of the noir thriller Blues in the Night and co-author with The Today Show's Al Roker of the comedy mysteries featuring restaurateur Billy Blessing (The Talk Show Murders), began his career as a novelist with the publication of the award-winning mystery, Sleeping Dog.

As a journalist, Lochte has written for numerous publications, including the Washington Post, Playboy, TV Guide, Chicago Tribune and Salon. He has been a columnist for the Los Angeles Times for a number of years, most recently as a reviewer of crime fiction. He has also served as a contributing editor and theatre critic for Los Angeles magazine, receiving an Ovation Award from the Los Angeles Theatre Alliance, the only critic so honoured.

He has also written film scripts for such actors as David Niven, Roger Moore, Martin Sheen and Jodie Foster.

Lochte, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, now lives with his wife and son in Southern California.

Reviews

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sequel to Lochte's fun "Sleeping Dog" (my review #674), this late 1980's "Laughing Dog" novel once again stars the stubborn street-smart LA PI Leo Bloodworth and his assertive 15-year old colleague-now Serendipity Dahlquist as they investigate two different cases. In one, Bloodworth ends up on a flight to Italy in pursuit of some stolen earrings. In another, Dahlquist has somehow found herself the investigative companion of a run-down New Orleans PI named Manion who enlisted their help to find a girl missing in LA.

The back-and-forth narrative between the two protagonists is the heart of this tale, Bloodworth serving as that stubborn, flawed street knight looking to earn an honest buck in the gutters of Los Angeles, showing the ropes to a resilient and unrelentingly annoying and persistent smart aleck teenager who has the naivete of a hippie flower child in certain circumstances but a quick wit and smart manner when it comes to dealing with condescending grown-ups and standing up for herself.

The author Lochte has some worries about nuclear power, I reckon.

Verdict: "Laughing Dog" (1988) has two primary missing persons and murder investigations that send our two great protagonists around the LA area (and Italy) on a topsy-turvy adventure with some thrilling mayhem, clever antics, hollywood-type bigshots and wannabes, and spoiler-removed larger sinister goals.

Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: R

[Tish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a delightful and witty detective story. I really enjoyed the characters, especially Serendipity. I never thought I would be so old-fashioned as to call someone a "pistol" but Serendipity was a real pistol! :) The book was set in the 80's, which I found to be both unusual and enjoyable. Seems like a lot of books just have a vague, more or less present-day or recent past or near future feel to them, whereas this one fit very nicely into its specific time frame. Plot, pacing, dialogue were all very well done and there were a lot of interesting side characters adding spice to the story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a free ebook.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this ebook free from the publisher through NetGalley.com. I enjoyed reading this private eye murder mystery. It was first published in 1988 and some things are a little dated,i.e, constant references to Chernobyl meltdown. The beginning was confusing, where the 2 main characters seem to be writing mystery books, each of them taking turns narrating chapters, sometimes repeating dialogue.. After I sorted that out, I was able to follow the plot reasonably well. The two central characters are Leo Bloodworth, private eye, and his self appointed assistant, Serendipity Dahlquist, a precocious 15 year old, who wants a career in criminology and has decided to intern with Bloodworth. They pursue separate cases that soon connect.

[Karin Montin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dick Lochte, Lauging Dog

After Sleeping Dog, I had to get the sequel. It was just as good.

A few months after their last adventure, Serendipity has apprenticed herself to the reluctant Leo, against the wishes of her TV-star grandmother. Serendipity takes on a case that Leo can’t be bothered with, helping an out-of-town PI look for a runaway girl. Meanwhile Leo is tracking down some stolen earrings. Eventually their cases intersect as they criss-cross LA and surroundings, from seedy “hotels” without water or electricity to self-contained estates in the hills, climaxing at a place where the fate of millions hangs in the balance. I cannot say more.

Again, the chapters are written alternately by Leo and Serendipity, with plenty of dialogue in the voices of a range of characters. There’s Slide, for instance, a “rat” who speaks an idiolect consisting of slang of every kind with his own inventions thrown in. And a lot of actors, who are constantly changing appearances and accents. This time around, the theatre world gets quite a bit of attention. And Leo and Serendipity both travel to Europe, separately.

I don’t know how I missed Dick Lochte when these came out in 1985 and 1988. Unfortunately, there are no more books in this series. The good news is that he has written many others.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. Not a bad story, with characters that have some engaging characteristics. The story moves back and forth between two POVs - the senior quasi-hard-boiled male detective and the precocious 15-year-old female detective in training. The 15-year-old seemed the far more dated character (the book was written in the 1980s) - so much about her didn't ring true. She seemed both overly precocious and overly naive at the same time, and thus just fell flat to me.

What will keep me from reading more of this series, though, is the "threatened detective" plot device. In the mystery series I enjoy most, the detectives are generally just that - detectives. This series, though, seems to be of the sub-genre in which the detectives themselves become drawn into the action - stalked, set up, kidnapped, beaten, etc. It's not a plot twist I generally enjoy (though it can be well done), so this isn't a series I will follow.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second of this series featuring alternating chapters narrated by a private detective and his teenage female intern made me smile. The story though was too unbelievable and it was difficult to keep the cast of characters straight

[Debra B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this sequel. I really enjoy the characters, structure and quirkiness of the Leo and Serendipity mysteries.

[Jch · Rating 3 out of 5]

some character's names were confusing-aliases --and sometimes were called by first name sometimes by last name.

[Andréa]

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

[Victoria & David Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vic read it.

[LJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

LAUGHING DOG - Poor
Lochte, Dick - 2nd in Serendipity and Bloodworth series

Lochte's debut in Sleeping Dogs attracted critical raves and an army of fans, beguiled by the orphaned adolescent Serendipity (Sarah) Dahlquist and veteran private investigator Leo Bloodworth of Los Angeles. The 15-year-old sleuth and her unwilling partner again take turns telling their stories about separate cases, eventually linked to one mind-boggling conspiracy. While Leo is in Italy on the trail of a jewel thief and being framed for the murder of a gang member, Sarah disobeys orders and helps a client, Terry Manion from New Orleans, trace his missing niece. Outwitting his attackers, Leo returns home to learn that Sarah has survived kidnap attempts and other dangers in her zeal to succeed at sleuthing. The complications and threats increase with every turn of events right up to the hair-trigger climax at a coastal nuclear power plant. There Leo and his friends from the police force race to save Sarah and her grandmother, captives of a criminal genius and his duped followers.

I finished it but that's about the best I can say for it.

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having taken the challenge of reading 100 books in 2014 I was pretty confident in November, when I was 16 books ahead of schedule. Alas, health problems of my own making and incredible amount of work in Novemeber and December prevented me from reading any books over the last 50 days. I have one more day and three books to read, so I will retort to plain cheating. As I mentioned yesterday, I was unable to finish just two books over the last about 10 years - one was "The Blood Knot" by John Galligan, a rare book, where I do not have a faintest idea what it is about, where I understand individual sentences, but do not understand the paragraphs. The other book that I was unable to finish this century was "Laughing Dog" by Dick Lochte. Mr. Lochte is a prolific and competent author, but I can't stand mysteries that feature kids as protagonists. Call me elitist, but to me kids belong in kid or young adult literature. I do not want to read about the precocious fifteen-year-old Serendipity Dahlquist, who helps solve a crime. So I opened the book the other day at the page that I bookmarked ten years ago, and in twenty minutes the book flew across the room. I still hope dumping two books out of about one thousand does not make ma a capricious hothead.

One star - one star too many

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have read SLEEPING DOG, then you know what to expect, because Leo Bloodworth, that world weary detective is back, along with his supersharp teen Serendipity Dahlquist, that brilliant girl who sometimes seems to be the brains of the outfit.

In am easy to follow, but incredibly complicated plot, we follow Leo Bloodworth to Venice in search of a thief, but he soon learns that there is more than a simple theft here, as he is slugged and left with a body nearby and another in his hotel room.

Meanwhile, his able, self appointed assistant, Serendipity Dahlquist, unbeknownst to Bloodworth, with a client he didn’t have time for – the two investigations seem to be unrelated…but are they?

If you haven’t met this most unlikely of unlikely detective teams, then you’re in for a rich treat – one you well deserve, don’t you?

[Philip Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this on my e-reader. A throwback to the days before smart phones and other technical wonders so mention of these items were absent. Originally published in 1988 so it is helpful to read “A Special Afterword To This Edition”. As good a read as any other I have encountered involving a PI and his accomplice with a plot to keep you turning pages. No doubt any one with knowledge of the Nuclear Power Industry will pick it apart but it is just a story and fiction at that, so give the writer a break. A good look at the ingenuity of devious people and the twisted mentality with total lack of morality to achieve their goals. With both a hero and a heroine to keep track of there is no break in the action from first to last page. Good entertainment back when it was written and equally so now for any reader of the proper age group.

[Jay Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another visit with Leo and Serendipity is just as exciting, interesting and entertaining as the first. Serendipity is wonderful as the precocious, wise-cracking teen, and the interactions between her and Leo are fabulous. Each manages to get into one scrape after another as they probe a case that leads into the dark side of Hollywood and greater LA. The plot is ingenious, the perils are great, and the saves are believable. The menagerie of characters, both old and new, makes this a great and entertaining read, without taking anything from the underlying mystery. This book has everything a good book should have, in spades.

[Peter Ackerman · Rating 1 out of 5]

So over rated. The two protagonists never gelled beyond their basic presentation (an older private eye teams up with a young teen) and the plot was nothing more than a follow the numbers, adding more and more characters along the way, so that you were not cheering for anyone, nor waiting for anyone to get caught. I was merely glad it was over, and only applaud myself for not putting this one down. I have NO idea how this became an award winning modern mystery classic. THAT is the mystery to me.

[Don Gorman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I understand there may be another Leo Bloodworth book out there. If so, I need to check it out as well. Leo is a very entertaining fellow and this is a very entertaining mystery. There is quite a cast of characters, including his 15 year old aspiring criminologist sidekick and a couple of other fairly rememerable folks. The plot is about a bunch of very wily old theatrical sorts who have, surprise, an evil bent. We go all over for a while but the grand finale is quite satisfying. A trip well worth taking.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This sequel to Sleeping Dog has the same entertaining characters that represent the "Odd Couple" of private investigators. I loved the initial book and although the characters continue to sparkle in this book, the story itself isn't as strong.

As a reader who is primarily interested in character development and sense of place, I would definitely seek out another book by Lochte because he excels in both. His scene at a debauched Playboy-type estate were well worth reading and his ingénue friend (and aspiring sleuth), Serendipity, is bright, brash and loads of fun.

[R R · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads well but amazingly dated if only from the 80's. For an LA person though easy to relate to the setting, etc.

[Debbie Lilley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was slow to start and I felt there was too many twist to it to be classed a very good But still a enjoyable read.

[Craig Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great characters in a story that moves like an eel.

[Regine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over the top.

[KyBunnies · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really hate books that go back and forth between two POV. Would have been a better book if this did not happen.

[Daelith]

56 pages then gave up.