by: Neil S. Plakcy
Series: Golden Retriever Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release Date: June 30, 2025
Publisher: Samwise Books
When his golden retriever Rochester discovers a body behind the bounce house at Stewart’s Crossing’s first Purim carnival, Steve Levitan finds himself juggling two dangerous investigations that will test both his computer skills and his courage.
Eastern College President Babson asks Steve to use his hacking expertise to investigate Austin Graynor, a star academic whose impressive credentials might be hiding a darker past. What Steve discovers about the professor’s history with female colleagues creates an urgent dilemma about academic power and deadly consequences.
He’s distracted, though, by the murder of Yakov Shmerler, a diamond dealer who was supposed to marry eighteen-year-old Hadassah Schildkraut. Hadassah fled her restrictive Orthodox community to stay with friends of Steve’s. As he helps his detective friend Rick Stemper investigate Yakov’s murder, they uncover secrets that reach from Pennsylvania to the isolated community of Kiryas Lev in New York’s Catskill Mountains.
Hadassah’s escape has made her a target. Her blog exposing corruption in her hometown threatens powerful men who’ve built their authority on others’ silence. As both investigations converge on themes of hidden identities and the courage to challenge corrupt authority—echoing Purim’s ancient story of Queen Esther—Steve must protect those speaking truth to power while helping bring dangerous men to justice.
I’m writing like mad these days, now that I’ve retired from my twenty-year college teaching career. And I’m having fun reaching out to readers and bloggers about my cozy mysteries.
Dog of Deliverance is the twenty-first book in your Golden Retriever mystery series. You’re a new to me author. Can you tell me about the series, and is Dog of Deliverance considered to be a standalone read?
It’s really surprising to look up from my writing desk and realize how many adventures I’ve given to Steve and Rochester. Because each book introduces and then solves a self-contained mystery, each book can be read as a stand-alone. But I believe that characters have to grow and change to maintain a reader’s interest, so those who began with In Dog We Trust have seen Steve gradually learn to love again, and the side characters have moved ahead with their lives as well.
After a brief stint in the California prison system for computer hacking and a divorce, forty-year-old Steve Levitan has returned to his hometown of Stewart’s Crossing, Pennsylvania. When his next-door neighbor is murdered and he’s asked to take care of her rambunctious golden retriever, Rochester, the series kicks off. The big goofy golden insists that Steve solve the murder, leading him to clues, and teaches him to love again.
I’m in love with Rochester already. Let’s do a character refresher. Can you please give a little glossary of the characters readers will see in the story?
Steve Levitan – at this stage in the series, he’s managing a conference center for his alma mater, Eastern College.What can readers expect from Dog of Deliverance?
Rochester – Steve’s clue-sniffing golden retriever
Rick Stemper – a high-school friend of Steve’s, now a police detective
Lili Weinstock – Steve’s wife, a professor at Eastern
Rabbi Shimmy Haveson – leader of the Modern Orthodox Jewish community in Stewart’s Crossing
Hadassah Schildkraut – Shimmy’s cousin
John William Babson – Eastern’s president and Steve’s mentor
There are two parallel plots in Dog of Deliverance, both about men in power and how they can take advantage of women. President Babson is considering hiring a renowned professor who may have some skeletons in his digital closet, and he asks Steve to use his hacking skills to uncover any potential issues.
Hadassah grew up in a New York suburb ruled with an iron fist by religious leaders. When the man she has been promised to is murdered, Steve and Rochester are on that case at the same time.
I was inspired by the story behind the Jewish holiday of Purim, when a young woman risks her life to stand up for her people and what she believes. You don’t have to be Jewish or know about Purim to enjoy the book, but that scaffolding was very helpful to me as I wrote.
Okay. How about some quick-fire questions?
Night owl/early bird: I wouldn’t call myself an early bird, but I am usually at the computer by nine in the morning, reading emails over breakfast and then diving into writing.Neil, congratulations on the release of Dog of Deliverance. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions for me.
Snack of choice: I like nibbling on chocolate-based trail mix—nuts, M&Ms, and so on.
Drink of choice: A big tumbler with a mix of espresso, raspberry hot chocolate, and dark chocolate powder.
Favorite character you’ve ever written: Probably Aidan Greene, from my Have Body, Will Guard MM adventure romances. He flees a bad relationship and a boring job and finds love and a world of adventure.
Favorite holiday: As a kid, it was always Hanukkah, because I got a present each night for (as Adam Sandler put it) eight crazy nights. Now I’d probably say Fourth of July for the fireworks.
Thank you & thank you so much for having me!
You’re welcome.
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