The Tale of A Dog

Caldwell lives by the lakeside at Austin, Texas, with his wife of thirty years, his two children having long ago flown the nest. He is a judge in the Federal Bankruptcy Court. And the dog? A mongrel that kept upsetting his dustbins as it rooted about in them, until the judge went after it and secretly beat its brains out with the edge-trimmers.
But this is not a crime story - for all that Caldwell's lifelong mentor, the Dutchman van de Rouwers, Philosophy guru and idol of the American campuse