Rain Dogs

November 15, 2005
A rain dog, according to folklore and a Tom Waits song, is a mutt who can't find its way home because a storm has washed away the trail of familiar scents. Chicago newspaperman Tom Coleman is drinking his way out of a broken marriage, grieving for his deceased daughter, when he inherits a backwater canoe-rental business near Valentine, Nebraska. He returns to his home state to start anew, but it seems more like a dead end. Coleman confronts family issues, small-town politics, a crooked cop, his first sweetheart, and the challenge of running a business while passed out drunk on the lawn. His employees--a ne'er-do-well stoner and a disgruntled teen--keep things running until one night when the crooked cop arrives with the flashers on. Coleman smells a story, but he's not covering this one--he's in it. Doolittle's style is clipped, his dialogue terse, but the story is lifelike and nuanced. " Rain Dogs" will satisfy fans of hard-boiled fiction and classic noir, as well as any crime fans who don't like their plots tied up too tidily.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)