Marcia Banks and Buddy Mysteries

Marcia (pronounced Mar-see-a, not Marsha) likes to think of herself as a normal person, even though she has a rather abnormal vocation. She trains service dogs for combat veterans with PTSD. Then the former Marine owner of her first trainee is accused of murdering his wife, and Marcia gets sucked into an even more abnormal avocation–amateur sleuth. Called in to dog-sit the Labrador service dog, Buddy, she’s outraged that his veteran owner is being presumed guilty until proven innocent. With Buddy’s help, she tries to uncover the real killer. Even after the hunky local sheriff politely tells her to butt out, Marcia keeps poking around. Until the killer finally pokes back.

Sweet, adorable Lacy has stolen Marcia Banks' heart, but money is tight. Like it or not, the service dog trainer needs to complete the human phase of the training and deliver the dog to her new owner in order to get paid. But the former Army nurse client turns out to be a challenging trainee. On top of her existing neuroses-which go beyond the psychological damage from a sexual assault during her second tour in Afghanistan-the veteran is now being stalked. When Marcia receives a bizarre warning to stay away from her client and Lacy is also caught in the stalker's malicious orbit, Sheriff Will Haines steps in to investigate. Marcia finds this both endearing and annoying, especially when he expects her to stay on the sidelines. The training fee would make her solvent again, but how can she put her dogs at risk? Maybe Marcia should be more worried about herself, since the stalker has decided to pay her off in a very different way.

Army veteran Jake Black has a new lease on life, thanks to service dog Felix and his trainer, Marcia Banks. Despite a traumatic brain injury, Jake's able to ride his beloved motorcycle again, with Felix in the sidecar. But his freedom to hit the open road is threatened once more when he and his wife are accused of robbery. Called in to dog-sit, Marcia can't sit idly by. She and her mentor dog, Buddy, set out to clear the Blacks' name, fighting misconceptions about bikers and about TBI along the way. When murder is added to the mix, Marcia redoubles her efforts, despite anonymous threats and her sheriff boyfriend's strenuous objections, both to her putting herself at risk... and to dragging him along on her wild ride.

A Christmas extravaganza in Mayfair, Florida, complete with an ice skating rink. What could go wrong? When Mayfair's newly-minted Chamber of Commerce goes off the rails and decides to build an ice skating rink, a decades-old skeleton is uncovered. The secrets it reveals threaten more than the town's Christmas plans. Feeling responsible since the let's-attract-more-tourists idea was hers initially, service dog trainer Marcia Banks is determined to help her police detective boyfriend solve the mystery, whether he wants her help or not. Maybe she can wheedle more out of the townspeople than he can. Will she and her Black Lab, Buddy, keep the ghost of Christmas past from destroying what is left of Mayfair's founding family, or will her meddling make things worse?