Secret Sleuth

Far from the publishing world that once defined her, Sheila Mackey has found a new life, a new home, and a new love.

The love has four legs, a plumy tail, and a lot of fur. Meet Gracie the rescue collie. Too smart for her own good – certainly too smart for Sheila’s good, when Gracie discovers a dead body during a gambol at the Torrid Avenue dog park.

The deputy in charge of the investigation looks at Sheila, Gracie, and their dog-park buddies askance as the first to find the body. Out of self-preservation to offset his suspicions, she reluctantly pokes into the background of the dead dog trainer.

Especially since, as Sheila delves into the suspects — dragged into it by dog park buddy Clara — she discovers the new guy at the dog park with the cute lab mix is a barely retired detective from the city. Not good for an amateur sleuth with a big secret of her own that she intends to keep. Because she’s not exactly who she says she is. At least she’s not who she pretended to be for 15 years.

Will Sheila untangle the murder mystery before her secrets are untied, exposing her previous identity to her new small-town neighbors?

And will Gracie ever learn the “Quiet!” command?