Beka Cooper: Terrier -Fiction

Terrier by Tamora Pierce is quite action-packed, and full of surprising twists and turns.  The author has built a city with its own dialects and words--complete with a glossary at the back.

Beka Cooper is in training to become a Dog--one of the city's law enforcers.  She's, in every meaning of the word, dogged.  She wants to be the Puppy (Dog in training) made into a Dog in "the shortest space of time".  Unfortunately, she's also shy to the point of speechlessness around strangers.  But she will have to do something about that soon, because there is wind of not one, but two mass murderers on the loose...and Beka's the only one who's noticed.

I like Beka, but it was her two Dogs and Pounce the cat who made the book for me.  Very real characters, and an interesting plot. Status:  Highly Recommended