LAST BUT NOT LEASHED

A veterinarian, her friends, and several dogs save the day.

Kate Turner is filling in for another vet whose yearlong absence offers her a great opportunity to live rent-free while paying off her student loans. In addition to becoming popular with the people in the Hudson Valley whose pets she cares for, she’s also garnered quite a reputation as a crime solver—though her boyfriend, Luke, who’s left a job with the police to go to law school, has recently seemed a bit distant. When Kate joins her vet tech, Mari, at a lecture about organizing everything in your life, she finds the body of the lecturer, Sookie Overmann, lying in a pool of blood. Both her Gramps and Luke know that she won’t be able to resist doing a little detective work between rounds of caring for her diverse clients. As Sookie’s assistant moves into her job, her husband becomes the leading suspect because of their impending divorce and a missing bunch of money. Meanwhile, a badly bitten pit bull left in the clinic parking lot and the feisty Chihuahua Little Man, one of Kate’s favorite clients who may have cancer, temporarily join her crew at home. At a New Year’s dance, Kate is pursued by a charming artist, and a woman apparently jumps to her death. Soon thereafter Luke breaks off their romance. With time on her hands, Kate has leisure for enough snooping to hit a killer’s nerve. Her savior turns out to be a tiny dog.

A pleasing mélange of mystery and pet lore.