Camille Perri, the bestselling author of THE ASSISTANTS and WHEN KATIE MET CASSIDY, combines the cozy hominess of a dog park with Washington, DC-level intrigue in SOCIAL ANIMALS.

“What happened at Hamilton Dog Park came as no surprise to me. I was there. I saw it all. And for months I’d been telling anyone who would listen: someone here is going to end up dead.” If the social scene that is an affluent dog park seems like an outlandish setting for a death, well, you’ve clearly never visited a park the likes of Hamilton. Here, political lines are drawn between big and small dogs, humans are shamed for “poop karma,” and three women are about to enter one of the zaniest relationships of their lives. 

First we meet Val Caruso, a forty-something grunge type whose childhood affiliations to organized crime (and her own father’s very real petty crimes) has prompted her in the direction of private investigation. For years, Val has earned her rent by helping stuffy businessmen uncover their wives’ affairs. Lately, though, she has begun to crave something real --- something that will help her feel like she is aiding the cause of justice.

"For those who prefer their couches not covered in pet hair and their nights uninterrupted by barking, never fear. It’s not required to be a dog lover to read SOCIAL ANIMALS. But once you’ve met the real stars of the novel...you’ll be hard-pressed to continue to ignore your allegiance..."

The deal presented to Val by Silas Kennerson isn’t exactly that --- another cheating wife --- but his unlimited budget is alluring enough by itself. The only hiccups are that taking the job will mean uprooting to DC (not terrible) and adopting a dog (extremely terrible). Val in no way expected the high-maintenance nature of Cash, her new clingy, barking Brussels Griffon. She knows that she’ll be able to help Silas uncover his wife’s affair, and once she completes the job, purebreds like Cash resell for upwards of $3,000. But first she has to infiltrate Hamilton Dog Park.

Val’s target is June Kennerson, a drop-dead gorgeous but angelically sweet and bored housewife. A former athlete who came from meager beginnings, June can’t say she hates her husband’s wealth, but she never wanted it and is learning that money can’t buy friends. As the head of the EPA’s New Chemicals Division, Silas is often forced to work late and arrives home grumpy, eager to criticize June for even the smallest indiscretion. With little but Silas’ jabs (and their affectionate but not particularly loyal dog, Willow) to keep her company, June longs for female friends whom she can confide in about her fights with Silas, her concerns that divorce may be on their horizon, and the creeping anxiety that always tells her she is embarrassing herself. Fortunately, her daily (and sometimes twice-daily) visits to Hamilton Dog Park provide a reprieve.

As Val and Cash begin to introduce themselves to the denizens of Hamilton, Val spots someone creeping around the edges of the park. Her PI skills on full alert, she vows to keep an eye on this mysterious figure, who may throw a wrench into her investigation. But before she can make contact, June introduces herself and quickly hits it off with reclusive, deeply anxious (and non-dog-owning) Alex Reed. 

Could this be a standard friendly encounter, or two lovers playing the roles of their lives as they stage their own heady meet-cute? The answer comes soon enough as Val rules out an affair between the two, but it is obvious that Alex is hiding something. Now that she has begun to care about June, she knows she’ll have to figure out what that is. After all, what self-respecting human visits a dog park when they don’t even own a slobbery, stinking mutt?

What emerges is a mystery in three parts: Val’s lucrative gig investigating June’s potential affair; Val’s investigation into Alex’s motives; and Alex’s own secret reason for being there, approaching June, and, ultimately, coming to adopt Bruce, a gorgeous beagle who seems to understand her deep-seated anxieties better than any human ever has. Topping it off is that most serious event of all ladies who lunch: a gala to renovate the dog park, complete with red carpets (for dogs and humans alike), lucrative sponsorships, and all the laugh-out-loud, tongue-in-cheek humor that comes with watching the rich and privileged behave ridiculously.

While the dogs themselves may be the titular social animals, Camille Perri’s use of the dog park setting to thrust her unlikely characters together speaks to a deeper meaning: that all of us are social animals, even if some of us have started to feel that we may not be socialized or socializing correctly. While it is the mysteries that propel the book forward, Perri also crafts tremendous, simmering tension in her characters. As often occurs in her works, she pays compassionate attention to the small yet life-changing moments of connection that occur between two women first becoming friends. Although she is careful never to stereotype their difficulties with mental health, the similarities between their symptoms connect them in tender, touching ways, especially as they begin to come out of their shells. 

A proud new dog person herself, as she notes in her acknowledgments, Perri pens adorable, loving portraits of the pet-human relationship --- from the absurd to the profound --- incisively exploring the poignant ways that animals and their owners change one another. As a setting, Hamilton Dog Park presents the perfect stage to examine this bond in detail, though it also begins to act as a character itself: full of personality and capable of undergoing a whole dynamic shift --- not to mention the comedic levity it brings to the narrative.

For those who prefer their couches not covered in pet hair and their nights uninterrupted by barking, never fear. It’s not required to be a dog lover to read SOCIAL ANIMALS. But once you’ve met the real stars of the novel --- Cash, Willow and Bruce --- you’ll be hard-pressed to continue to ignore your allegiance. You’re a dog person now. Meet me at the dog park.