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A lifelong New Yorker, Private Investigator Rachel Alexander has lived through some rough times—from 9/11, to a difficult divorce, to cases that have taken her to the depths of the city's dark underbelly. But when wealthy business owner Eleanor Redstone approaches Rachel to ask if she can investigate her father's murder—a brutal slaying that occurred when he was pushed onto the subway tracks—Rachel takes the case, plunging herself into parts of the city only its poorest residents have ever known. Because to solve Gardner Redstone's murder, Rachel must disguise herself as a homeless woman and live on the streets, searching for the dispossessed man witnesses say made the fatal push. In one of the coldest winters New York City has seen in years, Rachel is helped by a homeless Iraq War veteran, a man whose sad circumstances leave Rachel pondering her own fortunate life.

From critically-acclaimed author Carol Lea Benjamin, a writer the Cleveland Plain-Dealer calls "first rate," this is another illuminating look into the heart of New York, a mystery with heartbreaking characters, and a story you'll never forget.

Average Customer Rating:

Dashiell knew...

Customer Rating:

When a business owner loses his life after being pushed onto the subway track in front of an inbound train, unlicensed PI Rachel Alexander is hired by his daughter to find the accused homeless man that each witness describes differently. None can claim they saw him do it. To find him, Rachel goes undercover with Dash, her pit bull, into the homeless community. She doesn't find the man. He finds her. This book starts out thick undercover with the run-on thoughts of Eunice, a part I found a little tedious to get through, however interesting. Once I understood Eunice's role, the book picked up the pace and I looked forward to reading it every chance I got. Rachel has moments of introspection that increased my love for this character and made me sorry I've only read one other book in the series. I stumbled on the series this summer and will continue reading it and hopefully find time to go back to the earlier books.

PI team of woman and dog investigate a murder.

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Rachel Alexander and her dog, Dashiell are a team of private detectives. Yes, Dashiell is a very important part of Rachel's work. Most of us that have dogs realize how much a part of our lives they are and we treat them like the "kids" they are to us. When businessman Garner Redstone is pushed off the platform into the front of a subway train and is killed, Rachel receives a call from Redstone's daughter requesting that Rachel find out who did this terrible deed. It seems there were some homeless among those standing on the subway platform and could they have pushed Redstone? They were suspected and accused by many on the platform. While seeing a bad fire among a group of people, some of who are homeless people that had lived in the burning building, Rachel wonders who could have set such a fire and put so many people out of a living area. Seeing all the homeless, she decided the best way to obtain information on this murder was to go underground and become a homeless person herself. Using "Eunice" as her homeless name and "Lookout" for Dashiell, she started touring the homeless areas near where the fire occurred. She was accepted by a few but rejected by most. Eunice didn't have the look or moves of a homeless woman. She had to learn--and fast! Some of the homeless took her under their wing and trusted her. Rachel was in and out of underground living while attempting to find the stories of those on the subway platform at the time of the push murder. With the wife's knowledge, she took an undercover job in the exclusive store owned by the deceased and his wife. This store catered to only the high-class sector selling exclusively designed jackets, coats, purses, and ultra specialty dog coats! Rachel researched the files of all ex and present day employees trying to find someone that had any reason to kill Garner Redstone. Her research led her to several employees and others that had any reason to kill Redstone. Rachel made several trips to interview most of the people that could be suspected killers, including some of the homeless People. Rachel had friends in the police department that got her information she was unable to find on her own. Dashiell was the talk and attention of all that met him, but he did not like some of them he met and made that known even though he wouldn't hurt them. The Hard Way is a very good suspenseful read and it has some humor to lighten things up along the way. Rachel learns how extremely hard the homeless have it in their day-to-day attempt to exist. She ends up helping some of them in different ways. It has many surprises along the way including the ending as it wraps up the murder. A good read.

Easy on the mind

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This is number nine in this series featuring "Research Specialist" Rachel Alexander and her faithful pit-bull Dashiell. These books are a nice read. No blood and gore, no shoot- outs not even psychological thrills. Just good detecting work hitting the streets, working the clues from our heroine who just happens to "help" people. I've read all of the books in this series and I have yet to figure out how Rachel pays her bills. She refers to a previous life as a wife and a dog trainer, but I can't see how finding lost soles, or solving `cold cases" pays her bills. Besides that there are plots to the stories and Rachel does keep the pace moving along. This outing she is looking for the person who shoved a man onto the subway. She goes undercover as a homeless person in New York in the winter. She sees an entirely different side to the city she loves, even encountering her ex who doesn't recognize her. I thought that could have been left out, it seemed contrived. Rachel follows the clues from the underground subways, to the ritzy shops to the homeless shelters and back to the why and who of the crime. This is a soft mystery book, not a lot of action, but the pace does move along from clue to clue. The books are just long enough to while away a Sunday afternoon with a cup of cocoa. Any avid mystery reader can pick out the ending way before the last chapter; it just takes Rachel a little longer. There are moral issues involved and lots of commentary on the way of the world, so maybe this is Benjamin's soapbox.

Just keep getting better

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This is, to me, the best to date, even though I fell in love with Dash and his partner in book One. Her social commentary is right on, and the description of "Eunice's" daily treks were so engrossing I thought I was back in NYC. Time just flew, and there I was feeling seeing and grateful, that I have a roof over my head, food to eat, health insurance!!! and my family. Ms. Benjamin's stories are well done, packed move quickly, but even in the midst of the primary story line, she gives us a social commentary to "worry" on - that is a wonderful way to have an interesting story and remember others around us. I lived in NYC (as a consultant for the software firm I was employed by)for 6 months - June to Dec 23rd 1994 - I had the most difficult time ignoring the homeless and when we encountered a woman panhandling I always gave money - especially to those that I was close to in age, because, there but by the Grace of God, go I.

Another wonderful read	Customer Rating:
Ms. Benjamin does it again, another wonderful read, an engaging mystery that gives glimpses into worlds most of us never see. I felt cold when reading about the homeless out in the snow and ice and felt a different kind of cold watching the very rich waste their oh so disposable income. A thoughful and thought provoking read, I highly recommend it.