Delilah Doolittle and the Purloined Pooch — Patricia Guiver

Sunny Southern California seems an unlikely place for a British widow to call home. But pet detective Delilah Doolittle is probably the least eccentric--if not the most civilized--of Surf City's resident population. With an astute Doberman pinscher named Watson sniffing out clues, Delilah spends her time tracking clown errant pets. And experience has taught her that the trail of a missing animal often leads to the worst of human nature ...

Herbert Fitzherbert is missing. A champion German shepherd, neither hide nor hair of him can he found. Searching the home of his imposing owner, Delilah makes a grisly discovery in the doghouse: a man's body, with an electronic do, collar wrapped around his neck. Though Delilah assures the police that she'll focus on the canine caper, she soon finds that the warmer Herbert's trail gets, the closer she comes to collaring; a killer ...