The Barbary Dogs is the second Max Bravo mystery by Cynthia Robinson, set in San Francisco and featuring the B grade but usually working operatic baritone Max Bravo. Since we last saw Max in The Dog Park Club, he has taken on the missing Amy Carter's pug Dixie, and has tried to remain hopeful that Amy will just re-appear one day, perhaps after having suffered a bout of amnesia, one that's lasted two years and counting. When his sometime friend and failed writer Frank Kelly jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge, leaving behind a suicide note that specifically requests that Max "disperse my material possessions," Max is drawn into an intrigue involving, among other things, Frank's journal, a hidden manuscript, the 1906 earthquake and, well, a ghost. But a ghost who was a real bruiser in life, and who is after what Frank didn't manage to do for him, no matter the cost to Max or his friends.... I really enjoyed the first book in this series, The Dog Park Club, partly (I admit) for its accurate descriptions of places that I actually know in real life but also because of the cast of characters, who become almost Maupin-esque in their eccentricities and the fact that they only meet by happenstance. This second book, however, excludes most of the earlier characters (although Claudia is still there, as is the ghost of Max's Gypsy grandmother) and delves more deeply into a faintly ridiculous ghostly-haunting plot which seems to serve little more purpose than to showcase the author's awareness of the history of San Francisco - a history worth writing about, definitely, but this way of telling it left me flat. Plus the dogs in the first book were an integral part of the story; here, they barely exist (even Dixie!) and I dislike the marketing that suggests a story to intrigue dog-lovers when really it's about the Barbary Coast (i.e., the bad part of town) and its denizens. I'm quite disappointed, I have to say. Sigh. ( )

Totally ditto Kristi's review. I picked this book up at the library based on the cover picture and the mystery sticker on the spine. So I was very disappointed to find that the book was misrepresented. Based on that, I was tempted to give it one star for false advertising, however, I didn't really dislike everything about it. I loved Max's gypsy grandmother, for example.

So, be warned, the book barely has a dog in it and it is barely a mystery. ( )