The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle — Joanna Carl

BARKS AND BITES

The lakeside town of Warner Pier, Michigan, is tickled pinker than a strawberry truffle. Flashy Aubrey Andrews Armstrong has just swept into town, dropping celebrity names and claiming he's an independent Hollywood producer. For his next project, he says, he'll make a movie based on a local author's romance novel--right here on location, as they say in Tinsel Town...

Armstrong makes older ladies blush and giggle like schoolgirls. He's promised the high school drama club bit parts in the movie. And his constant companion, his chocolate lab, Monte, is quite the charmer. But sensible Lee McKinney, business manager at TenHuis Chocolade, would bet her last chocolate coin that Mr. Armstrong is a doggone phony. Even though it's the shop's busy season, Lee's always up for some sleuthing. But when it leads her to a dead body, dogging the killer could fetch a whole lot of danger...