Cold Dog Soup — Stephen Dobyns

Michael Latchmer, instructed to bury the corpse of a date's pet dog, finds himself on a Dantesque adventure with a Haitian cab driver who claims that he can get money for the dog's body. ''This is a ludicrous, occasionally amusing romp,'' said PW , although ''the polished writing of novelist and poet Dobyns deserves a stronger plot than this.''