The Dog on the Roof — Mary Madsen Hallock

The Dog on the Roof takes place in the high mountain Valley of Oaxaca, the handcraft and archaeological center of Mexico. It is not enough that Doña Milly, elderly owner of Casa Colonial, must tame a houseful of difficult guests-she almost solve multiple murders and help Zapotec villagers fight off a homicidal giant who laces his size eighteen tennies with purple shoelaces. On top of that, an irritating watchdog starts barking her awake twice every night from his post on the roof of the house next door. Paco and Amelia, a gentle Zapotec couple who find a fashionably-dressed dead man in their corn field-Inocencio, Doña Milly's sidekick and the manager of Casa Colonial-Rodolfo Sanchez, a retired gangster from Mexico City-and various hotel guests-make up the colorful cast of characters. Kindly, pragmatic Doña Milly, Oaxaca's Miss Marple, guides them all with energy, warmth and an irrepressible sense of humor.