MCBRIDE 8: DOGGED

Smooth talking ex-cop McBride (Emmy winner John Larroquette, The John Larroquette Show) gets a little harder-edged when he’s introduced to 21st century technology, and finds murder in the most unlikely places.

Tensions run a little high at dog shows, considering the unpredictability of canines. That goes double for their handlers, as attorney McBride soon finds out. His newest client is Laurie (Samantha Smith, Transformers), accused of shooting to death her married lover, Frank, at the annual L.A. Kennel Club Dog Show, where her golden retriever took Best in Show. You’d think the prize would have put her in a better mood, but all clues point to the beautiful blonde as the shooter—including an incriminating cell phone text message, a blonde hair, and the bitter motives of a scorned mistress. If anyone wants justice, it’s Frank’s wheelchair-bound wife, Sarah—and McBride. Unfortunately, the traditional gumshoe’s grasp of text messaging is currently as elusive as the truth.

But if Laurie didn’t do it, then who hated her enough to frame her? The same person who hated Frank enough to kill him. Thanks to McBride’s partner, Phil (Matt Lutz, End of the Spear), he gets a crash course in the technology department with his first cell phone—all the better to keep him in close contact to Laurie’s friends and enemies, including a cheery dog handler, Laurie’s ex-boyfriend, a vengeful dog-show loser, and Frank’s brittle and wealthy mother-in-law. Good thing McBride’s learning how to use the hidden features on his new phone. They’re going to come in handy when the case against Laurie is shadowed by blackmail, greed, a shifty family doctor, a couple of crafty vets, and a buried scandal McBride digs up like an old bone.

Dog—and mystery—fanciers come together for one of television’s most agreeable sleuths in a winning McBride that’s absolutely Best in Show.