After gunshots echo through the summer night on Mount Macedon, Detective Sergeant Zoe Mayer and her loyal service dog Harry race to the summit at first light. What they find looks like a grisly murder-suicide: an alleged fraudster named Piers Johnson, and his lawyer Antony Peterson, both dead from bullet wounds, a gun lying nearby.
Something about the scene doesn't stack up. There are plenty of suspects, but no one seems to be telling the truth. Zoe's instincts are ignited, as the pressure to find and charge the culprit becomes intense. And that's when Peterson's teenage daughter Sarah is snatched off the street. The Good Dog is Zoe's toughest assignment yet, a murderous conspiracy of greed, deceit and violence. She knows that Harry may be her only chance to crack the case.
In his early days, Simon Rowell worked on outback oil rigs, managed nightclubs and was a tour guide in Central Australia. Eventually, he transitioned into a twenty-year career in corporate branding. Rowell is known as the author of several novels, including The Long Game, Wild Card, and The Good Dog (all part of the Zoe Mayer series), along with The Echo of Others, which earned a spot on the longlist for the Ned Kelly Awards for Best First Crime in 2018. He and his wife, Karen, reside on a farm full of rescued animals on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula.
'A whip-smart read with a whole lot of heart. Harry the dog may well be my favourite character in crime fiction today.' Loraine Peck, author of The Second Son
'An underappreciated gem of Australian crime writing...Well plotted and briskly paced, this is another accomplished novel by Rowell that will keep you keenly reading to the end.' Canberra Weekly
'Rowell makes effective use of location to illuminate both character and plot...As Zoe, Ben and Harry doggedly (sorry) follow the divergent potential leads, Rowell complicates and then unfurls a case that never loses a connection with the painstaking process of good detective work, or canine intuition. Go Harry.' Age
