Pet Mysteries

Dexter meets Secretary in Michael J. Seidlinger's provocative, disturbing literary thriller that reinvents the serial killer genre, exploring the psychology of desire. Claire studies forensic science, Victor is the gentleman killer. Subverting expectations, Clair seduces Victor and keeps him in her apartment as her pet, her darkest secret. Beautifully written and provocative to listen to, Seidlinger delves into Claire's motivations and impetus to present a compelling psychosexual portrait of a woman obsessed with performance, power, sex, and gore.

Twelve-year-old Kassy O’Roarke wants to win the Thompson prize at her school newspaper. Her pesky little brother Percy and his key-stealing ferret try to help, and that’s when the trouble begins. Apollo the cougar cub goes missing from their family’s petting zoo. Kassy puts her detective skills to the test to find him before Animal Control does. Can Kassy outsmart the dogcatcher and rescue Apollo before being grounded for life?

Winnie Parker, mother to an angst-ridden teenage daughter and ex-wife to a successful game show host who left her for a twenty-something contestant, begins a normal day in her hum-drum existence by dropping her car off at the repair shop. After accepting what she believes is a ride to pick up her rental car, Winnie realizes too late that she's been kidnapped. What follows is a riveting psychological game of cat and mouse set in the kidnapper's tropically heated house - kept that way for Cookie, a menacing seven-foot long Iguana headquartered in the kitchen.

Autumn on the Maine coast is stunning, which brings the tourists out in droves. My restaurant, the Little Dog Diner, is teeming with them, thanks to the locally famous fall festival. Usually that's a great thing...this year, however, the discovery of a dead body puts a damper on business awfully fast. Add to that the fact that the victim had a vendetta against almost every small business owner in town, and now I've landed right in the middle of the very long and tedious suspect list.

Just days before her 13th birthday, Kassy’s only wish is to escape from the cramped tent she shares with her brother and his farting ferret, her not-quite stepsister and her squirmin’ vermin puppy...and a miniature goat with an appetite for underwear. Kiki the koala needs to get to the National Zoo in Washington, and the gang is on the world’s most fun road trip to get her there. On the way, they camp in the Shenandoah National Forest, where they enter a geocaching contest full of riddles and puzzles to test even the brainiest middle graders.

Hetta Coffey is a sassy Texan with a snazzy yacht, and she's not afraid to use it! As a self-employed engineering consultant with a penchant for oddball - read: shady - projects, Hetta Coffey has a history of inviting trouble. But now that she's been hired for a legitimate mining project in Mexico's Baja, it looks like smooth sailing ahead... until she discovers that people and pesos are disappearing faster than you can say, "This job is the pits!"

Is it possible that there are family pets so loyal they return even after death? Some people report experiencing the sensation of a cat rubbing up against a pant leg after their favorite feline has gone to its reward. Or what of the long-standing tales in British folklore of spectral dogs - a traditional omen of death? Could it be that animals have spirits that continue to haunt the earthly realm after they have died? Learn more in this fascinating account.

When Tansy, a young woman amateur sleuth, and her French bulldog named Hank stumbled upon a dead body, she knew it was Ryan, a local in her small Appalachian town. He had just purchased a couple of crystals from her herb and crystal shop to help calm down his dog Pepper, and then they had parted cordially enough.

When recent college graduate with an art major and no job prospects Tansy Silver suddenly inherits her deceased aunt’s Appalachian small-town lifestyle, she finds herself running a holistic herb shop business...and communicating back and forth in her mind with her wise(cracking) French bulldog companion Hank. Life seems pleasant and low-key. Except…. During one morning walk, Tansy and Hank come upon an odd sight. Rising up from the fountain in the town square, they spot a cheetah-print high heel shoe attached to the leg of another shop owner, Rose Hampton.

Newly minted veterinarian Vivian Anderson knows and loves horses better than most. With an important horse show on the line and the search for a full-time vet job fast approaching, Vivian is fully occupied at her aunt’s Arabian horse ranch and her equine medical externship. Vivian’s world is abruptly shaken by a shocking murder that casts suspicion on the people she thought she knew best.

I never signed up to be a private investigator with a snarky, talking cat for a partner, but there's no backing down now. Especially considering a prominent politician was murdered pretty much right in my backyard. The only witnesses were the senator's two hairless cats, Jacques and Jillianne. Normally pets want to help us solve their owner's murders, but this time it seems the two devious felines might actually be the ones who committed it....

Famous southern carriage-horse trainer Hiram Lackland, a handsome widower, dies mysteriously after retiring to a farm outside Mossy Creek. His estranged daughter, Merry Abbot, also a horse trainer, arrives to settle his estate. But Merry quickly plunges into bit-chomping dilemmas when her father's friend and landlord, mystery-novel maven Peggy Caldwell, insists he was murdered. Before Merry can so much as snap a buggy rein, a handsome and annoying GBI investigator, Geoff Madison, is on her case....

Pete the cat can't actually talk to his owner, Alex, but he's a crime-solving cat, and he knows when things aren't right. And now, Pete knows something is wrong. Someone's been breaking into houses in the neighborhood, and they're not just stealing people's property—they're kidnapping pets! When the burglars come to Alex's house, they nab Pete! Lucky for Pete, Alex's brother, Benjie, comes to the rescue, but gets himself kidnapped by the thieves. Can Pete and Alex uncover the clues and rescue Benjie?

There's a dog, of course. But what connection does he have to a little girl who disappeared years before? Things at Welcome Home, the home Polly and her mom run for military veterans, are not going as swimmingly as they would like, and Polly may have messed up her relationship with Tyler, the smart, sexy and wonderful love of her life. Oh! And there are chickens. Let's not forget the chickens.

Polly Parrett finds herself in the midst of another murder mystery. This time it involves two little girls, a wicked stepmother, and a missing father. Oh, and Christmas is almost here. It all begins with a mysterious gift box that’s left on Polly's doorstep. Along the way she encounters problems with her pet-sitting customers and her arch nemesis, Britney Harris, who has her eye on Polly's boyfriend Tyler.

What do bulldog puppies and garden gnomes have to do with a dead Santa Claus? Once again intrepid pet-sitter, Polly Parrett, finds herself in the thick of a murder investigation. This time it comes too close to home when the killer strikes during the annual Christmas Open House for Welcome Home, the shelter Polly and her mom run for homeless military veterans and their pets. The murder could jeopardize everything they've worked for, so Polly sets out to catch the killer and put the jolly back in the holiday.

Polly Parrett is juggling the care of her wheelchair-bound mother, her pet-sitting business, and the sale of the family home. On top of that she finds herself having to deal with an arrogant but really sexy realtor, and Christmas is coming! None of that seems important, though, when she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation and must find the real killer before an innocent homeless man and his dog are wrongly convicted.

When Queenie the cat wins first place in a feline beauty contest at the county fair, Arthur the dog expects her to be snootier than ever. (Even though she barely beat out another cat who looked almost exactly like her.) Yet when Queenie returns from the fair, she seems oddly nice and sociable - almost like she's had a personality change! The humans chalk up Queenie's good mood to her recent win, but Arthur knows the truth. He can tell from the smell that this friendly Queenie is an imposter!

Jackson Ruck travels to the Verlorland Islands to retrieve his wayward older brother, Henry. But just as Jackson arrives, Henry's farcical career as a British private detective gets a serious boost when he lands the case of a murdered German woman with a massive estate. Unable to watch his brother fail, Jackson joins Henry's investigation into the strange Henbit family. The dead woman leaves behind a contentious will, angry relatives, and a life full of secrets that Henry must unravel. When a second body appears, it becomes clear that more than Henry's career is at risk.

Come to the hills of the Ozarks and meet Maggie Porter and her dogs - a champion Labrador Retriever, an aging Cocker Spaniel, and a Beagle retired from federal service. Maggie has returned home to reopen the family dog kennel business, where she's plagued by problems from the start. Serious trouble arises when a gossip-loving employee turns up dead holding an heirloom locket belonging to Maggie's mother.