Roll over and Play Dead — Joan Hess

Miss Emily Parchester's pampered bassets, Nick and Nora, have to be the most slobbery pets in Farberville, Bookstore owner Claire Malloy could kick herself for agreeing to dog-sit them, especially when on the third day of Miss Emily's vacation, they mysteriously vanish and the director of the animal shelter describes the usual destiny of kidnapped pets. Claire's bloodhound instincts start churning. Nick and Nora must be rescued, whatever the cost.

The first payment comes due when Claire and a bevy of bereft pet owners collide with a beast named Newton Churls, who controls the lucrative local market in stolen and homeless animals and pit-fight gambling. But undeterred by Churls' pit bulls, the sheriff, or her own pet cop, Lieutenant Peter Rosen of the CID, Claire is hot on the trail of a killer.