Mostly the dog

Troublemaker: A Novel - Linda Howard

I enjoyed this story that is mostly about the dog Tricks but also about two people who end up befriending her.

 

Morgan Yancy is just back from a tricky mission and now he's trying to relax so he heads out on his boat to fish.  While there he meets some people he knows and he realises that somethings has gone badly wrong when he arrives home to an assassin.  When he wakes it's in a hospital bed and he's in pain.  He had survived the assassination but his boss, Axel, has no idea who and why he had been targeted.

 

Axel decides to send Morgan to someone he hasn't seen in years and someone he seriously doesn't care for, her mother and his father were once married for a few months and they didn't get on then.  She's distant enough and needs the money so Bo Maran agrees.  Bo never intended to be in the house she is and part-time working as the Sherrif (mostly to get the paperwork done) and not a dog owner.  But these things are what have her in the town she's in and she likes the community around her.

 

I enjoyed the read, I liked how Morgan had to come to terms with his now body (though he didn't have enough falling over for long enough to be honest and never relapsed, it is a fantasy/thriller version of recovery).  Things do get resolved fairly quickly and this is also more a romance with a taste of thriller than a full thriller.  There's also a lot of dealing with a spoilt dog who walks all over the two characters (and a lot of other people in the town).  I really did like how respectful Morgan was about her job and her and dealt with his issues like an actual adult.

 

The author could use other members of the team for more stories...