SCENT OF DANGER

A breathing-impaired veterinarian and his keen-nosed beagle combine their complementary skills to catch a killer.

Dale Kinsall has moved from Ohio to the Flagstaff area to help his severe asthma problem, exacerbated by a fire at his clinic. While the clinic is being refurbished, Dale is forced to work part time to avoid the dust. But he gets caught up in a possible murder case when strange notes start to appear at the clinic, challenging him to solve a puzzle. Dale’s girlfriend Laura is housing her cousin, whose son is fighting for his life after developing the deadly Hanta virus. Although the virus is endemic to the Southwest, it hasn’t appeared recently, and they have no idea how he got it. The investigator who shows the most promise is Sully Beagle, whom Dale is training as a show dog. Sully’s newly revealed talents as a mouser cause considerable excitement, since mice carry Hanta. When Laura starts feeling ill, Sully sniffs out a mouse nest in her air conditioner. After rushing her to the hospital, Dale sets out to track down the culprit who’s apparently using Hanta as a murder weapon.

Although Durgin’s debut mystery is slow-paced and not all that mysterious, the characters, especially Sully, have a certain charm that will appeal to canine fanciers.