‘Let Dead Dogs Lie’ by Anita Rodgers is the first in her recent page-turning, Dead Dog trilogy. While I will be the first to admit that being a people and an animal lover, it’s hard to imagine and read about corpses of both showing up on remote stretches of highway out near the small town of Regal Reef, California, Ms. Rodgers has written a captivating first-in-the-series novel that I eagerly returned to each evening. In contemplating the strengths of this story, the five elements this author so deftly accomplished in my opinion are: terrific characterization; a smooth, fast-moving plot; a sweet romance; subplots that keep the story moving; and this author’s ever-present sense of humor that transfers so well onto her pages. The main character of the book, Lottie Stark, is Chief of Police in Regal Reef, and for those who enjoy strong women characters who still have very real human emotions, Ms. Rodgers has created an extremely likable one. Her multitude of other characters are also well conceived and pop off the pages as real people, although at times their bantering felt somewhat forced. The main plot involves the possible return of a serial killer, Donald Brown Stoker, whom Lottie is certain she killed several years prior, or a copycat, and the author has done a nice job of leaving this story line wide open for continuation in the two remaining of the series. Lottie’s previous partner and lover, Jack Brady, is a likable, devil-may-care international profiler and she struggles with her own emotions throughout regarding his renewed advances. And finally, she must solve the subplot mystery of who is trying to terrorize her or her gay roommate, Dawk, while always in the back of her mind she fears it might be the serial killer she is trying to apprehend. True to life, there is an additional subplot of the attempts at sabotage many successful professional women face daily. And as mentioned earlier, all of this is accomplished with an underlying enjoyable sense of humor. I’ll soon be headed back to Regal Reef to see what happens in the second of the series ‘Every Dog has his Day.’