ROLL OVER AND PLAY DEAD

Farberville's bookstore-owner/occasional sleuth Claire Malloy (A Diet to Die For, etc.) has consented to care for Emily Parchester's African violets and basset hounds, Nick and Nora, while Emily takes a trip. Days later, the hounds have disappeared, along with the various pets of neighbors on the block, and Claire is in the middle of a plot to recover them from the filthy quarters of nasty Newton Churls, notorious local animal-dealer. Not so easy, especially after Churls is killed by his pit bulls—not accidentally; Claire's warned off by the local law; a couple of Churls's brutish redneck pals are prowling the neighborhood, and Claire's teenaged daughter, Caron, and friend Inez undertake some heroics of their own. Another of the author's ditsy mixes—a worthy issue; a few eccentrics; lots of ill-advised forays into danger; and a blithe heroine whose ironic reflections often produce a chuckle. Of special interest to dedicated animal-lovers.