HAIR OF THE DOG

Insurance investigator Dan Mahoney (Rollover, 2014, etc.) checks out monkey business at a Florida greyhound track.

Dixie Halifax, owner of the Daytona Beach Kennel Club and Poker Room, wants United Life and Casualty to pay her for five racers she lost in a fire at the local track. But Fucher Crumm, who cared for the dogs, swears that the five weren’t in their cages the night of the fire. Since Fucher, despite his intellectual challenges, managed to save all the other greyhounds that night, Dan believes his story. But it’s hard for Dan to sell that story, since the dog handler is currently in the Volusia County Correctional Center, charged with the death of trainer Jackson Sanchez, who also perished the night of the blaze. While Dan’s fiancee, Elaine Linden, looks after Sadie, Fucher’s pet greyhound, Dan noses around. When vet Kevin Elliott tells him that he cremated all five dogs the night of the fire, Dan’s radar begins to ping. It pings even louder when Pete Ellis admits that he “corrected” the identifying ear tattoos of several dogs. Meanwhile, Elaine, hoping to qualify for her private investigator’s license, asks PI Scott Ramsey to supervise her in a case commissioned by none other than her prospective mother-in-law, Maggie Mahoney, who wants to find out if her new boyfriend, Stanley Evers, is legit. Dan may be at the dog track, but Elaine is in even deeper doo-doo, as she finds out more about Stanley than anyone should know.

Dan’s third appearance starts out strong but fades in the back stretch as complications pile on and coincidences pile up.