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Jane McBride was born in Rochester, New York and grew up in a small town called Medina in Western New York in an old farm house. The house, barn and yard allowed for a constant flow and supply of all kinds of different animals who were cherished and loved to the elderly ends of their long lives. She joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1986 and served a mission to Oregon from 1990-1991. She met her husband during that time and they now live in Taylorsville, UT with their two little boys and a whole bunch of animals. She has always had a thing for writing and A Little Hair of the Dog is her first novel.
Reviewed by Brenda Casto for Readers' Favorite
A Little Hair of the Dog by Jane McBride is the story of Ann Bixby and Henry. While it was the death of her mother that had 15-year-old Ann and her father moving away from her hometown and her best friend Kell,ironically it's the death of her father that has her moving back home at the age of 27. Not only does she move home but she adopts Henry, a 180 pound Great Dane. Ann, a shy Mormon girl, finds herself coming out of her shell with Henry and the duo is soon known all over town. While walking Henry one day she meets Kyle Mendez, and in a word becomes smitten. Thing is, Kyle is dealing with issues from his past,and he isn't a Mormon! Those things don't keep Ann from developing feelings for him though. When she and Kyle are out walking on the riverbank one day, they stumble upon a dead body, and while the police seem to have come to a dead end, Ann finds herself becoming involved in something that ultimately puts her in danger!
As someone who loves reading stories that revolve around animals I found myself drawn to A Little Hair of the Dog because I knew that the story involved Henry a Great Dane, but once I started reading I became so invested in Ann's life that I couldn't put the story down. The author, Jane McBride, allowed me to feel the loss of Ann's father and mother. I could understand why she wanted to move back to her hometown where there were people who knew and loved her.I loved Henry, I could just imagine that huge dog tooling down the highway in the back of a VW Bug! While Ann rescued Henry, he was also just what Ann needed! The tension that the owner might return and claim Henry was understandable: after all, Henry became Ann's family, and normally wherever she went so did he. There were so many stand out characters that kept the plot moving, a couple of my favorites were Ann's offbeat, sixty-five-year-old Aunt Gertrude and her relief driver driver, Penelope Hogwaller. Both loved playing football, and were a bit sneaky. It did take me a while to get into the characters of Kyle and some of his friends, I think it was the poor language, but once I imagined him speaking as the Sly Stallone character of "Rocky" I totally got into the characters.
A Little Hair of the Dog is a wonderfully written, clean read that provides plenty of laughs, great characters, mystery, a budding romance, along with a nice glimpse of the Mormon faith. Anyone who enjoys a good fiction tale where a dog is one of the primary characters shouldn't miss this one.
