The Assassin's Dog — David George Clarke

COSIMO GRAZIANO ROSSELLI. Mafia assassin, a man who prides himself on his humanity -- his victims feel nothing as they die; they simply cease to exist.

GOCCIA (pron: 'got:cha): Cosimo Graziano Rosselli's beloved pug. Totally obedient and too cute to ignore, she accompanies the assassin everywhere on his contract killings.

When newly promoted Detective Sergeant Jennifer Cotton's close friend Detective Superintendent Trisha McVie disappears in mysterious circumstances, a huge search throughout the UK's East Midlands proves fruitless and frustrating.

Little does Jennifer realise that the person behind her friend's disappearance is far closer to home than she imagines.

Little does she realise that an elderly man she sees sitting with his placid pug dog in a pub in central Nottingham is the enigmatic assassin Cosimo Graziano Rosselli.

Little does she realise that Cosimo Graziano Rosselli is planning how and when to kill her …