Chained — Eileen Brady

Everyone in the charming Hudson Valley town expected Flynn Keegan―their blond, handsome “Golden Boy” with his infectious grin―to make it big when he left for Hollywood. That's why when veterinarian Kate Turner from the Oak Falls Animal Hospital discovers a human bone dug up in the forest by the Malamute she is treating, no one thinks back ten years to remember Flynn. Until DNA and a smashed skull prove he was murdered.

Dr. Kate shares a birthday with the victim, whose promising life was cut short. His troubled, angry family begs her to investigate. His four close friends plead ignorance. Neighbors and teachers give no help. Will the wooded site of his death and burial, now covered with tokens, photos, and a planted rose, offer clues? Does the near-grown black bear shackled and starved in a cage nearby relate to the case? Dr. Kate finds food and water for him before Crazy Carl's shotgun drives her off to call authorities. What happened to the bear?

In her house-call practice, Dr. Kate's personal access to locals has solved past crimes and killings. While she's treating a diabetic cat, Chihuahuas, Scottish Highland Bulls, Cavalier King Charleses, pot-bellied pigs, even a Great Horned Owl, she's asking about Flynn. She's also juggling an appealing police detective with girlfriend issues and an old boyfriend who returns like Indiana Jones from an African dig to rekindle their romance. The high school ten-year reunion crashes when the prom queen is strangled on her throne. Long-buried secrets about Flynn's dreams put Dr. Kate next on the kill list.