This is the third of Neil Plakcy's books that I have read, which follow the adventures of Steve Levitan and his idiot savant golden retriever, Rochester. I liked the first two fairly well, but I had some issues with this one. It's silly the things that bother one. I understand fiction isn't necessarily "real", but things more-or-less should happen as they would in the real world.

My first problem, came when Steve and his friend Rick went to a snooty dog-training Nazi's location to check out her agility training course. Rick had been taking lessons from the woman. Well, immediately, the idiot savant Rochester went through the course with only a few mishaps. The problem here for me is that, in real life, a dog-training Nazi would never let a dog that hadn't even had the most basic behavioral training—sit, stay, come, heal, down—get within a mile of her agility training course. She would know instantly that Rochester lacked even the most elementary training because he was on a retractable leash. No one who understood even elementary level dog training would ever use a retractable leash.

Well, perhaps I'm being a bit severe. Rochester is, after all, rather an idiot savant of a dog. The thing that really bugged the crap out of me is that Steve went outside at one point and looked up to see the constellation Orion. What's wrong with that? Well, in the book we're nearing graduation. Trees have leaves and cast shade. That means we're talking about May or June. There's no way in hell one is going to see Orion in May or June. Nope, Orion is a winter constellation that one sees in December and January. Neil Plakcy should do a little research before he puts his fingers on the keyboard. For shame!

This book is really ***- rather than a plain ***. ( )

Rita Gaines, a member of Eastern's Board of Trustees, causes a scene at a student art exhibition over a piece she considers blasphemous and cruel to animals. A few days she is found dead, injected with cobra venom. Was the artist, who believed Rita was trying to have his scholarship withdrawn, responsible or was it one of the many other people who had suffered from Rita's unpleasant behaviour? Naturally, Steve Levitan and Rochester are in all the right places at the right time, which means Steve just has to investigate.

Another fun adventure for a man and his dog, and a love interest has appeared. But I have to say, considering Steve has gigs teaching writing skills, the proofreading in these books is getting worse and worse as the series progresses. So I've knocked half a star off. ( )