A Deadly Bone to Pick

December 1, 2021
Dogs and murder make for a maddening mix. Private eye Molly Madison, a former police officer, moved from Massachusetts to California with her beloved golden retriever, Harlow, seeking peace of mind after the murder of her cheating husband. Someone was arrested and is awaiting trial, but her husband's family and some of her ex-colleagues remain suspicious of her. Molly doesn't mind when an enormous slobbering Saint Berdoodle shows up at her new house, especially when she learns that he's an escape artist owned by a doctor who's in the midst of a divorce and has no time for Noodle. Given all the time on her hands, Molly's more than happy to train Noodle, whose extraordinary nose leads to a hand buried on the beach and a world of trouble for Molly. The two detectives on the case are handsome Detective Vasquez and nasty, suspicious Detective Wright, whose background check of Molly convinces him that she's a killer. After Molly's friendly neighbor Seville Chambers touts her dog-training abilities, she soon has several other canine clients. Butterscotch, a basset-retriever mix, belongs to Ava, a brilliant 8-year-old whose odd parents make her pooch sleep outside, and Ulysses, a Dalmatian, belongs to defense attorney Lupe Fox, who happens to be Vasquez's younger sister. Traveling the neighborhood, Molly picks up a lot of information she'll need if she's to solve the mystery of the hand and the shocking murder of Seville before Wright throws her in jail. A charming new cozy certain to delight dog lovers of all breeds.

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July 15, 2022
We're a good way into this mystery before we discover why Molly Madison left Massachusetts for a little oceanside California village. She was a ""person of interest"" when her husband was murdered. Though she was cleared, the air there had gone bad, and she thought it best to move. While we're waiting for this explanation, we learn of Molly's troubles with the movers, the decor of her new house, and her fondness for her dog. Then a lengthy dog-training session delays the murky business of crime fiction--a severed hand, a murder--and finally it's clear that this fits squarely into the cozy genre. There are other clues--the killings are all offstage, and there is no bad language, especially no f-bombs. Thriller fans may grow impatient at the idea that a killing spree is somehow secondary to Molly seeking to find the sort of plants that will thrive in sandy California soil, but cozy devotees will be right at home. And both will be rewarded with a stirring finale, a sexy cop, and a heroic dog.

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