Mary McGill Dog Mystery

Mary McGill's Christmas turns less than jolly when she gets wrapped up in a murder mystery in this debut cozy… A pillar of her small California town, retired schoolteacher Mary McGill has a finger in every pie and a place on every committee. Usually, everything Mary organizes runs smoothly. But this year, the town's annual Christmas pageant hits a snag with the discovery of a blood-stained corpse lying in the manger-and a cowering black-and-white cocker spaniel puppy right beside the body. Two local children report seeing a shadowy figure fleeing the scene, but there are no clues as to the murderer's identity. If Mary can figure out what the purebred pup was doing there, she'll be one step closer to finding the killer. But as someone who knows nothing about puppies, purebred or otherwise, Mary needs to scratch beneath the surface before more than the Christmas pageant goes to the dogs . . .

Retired schoolteacher Mary McGill and her dog Millie must sniff out a killer in this small town cozy mystery from the author of Purebred Dead. Preparations for Santa Louisa, California's annual spring rummage sale are thrown into chaos when organizer Mary McGill and her devoted cocker spaniel Millie come across a dead body on the premises. Still wearing her pink nightdress and slippers, what on earth was Miss Emilie Plym doing in a locked church hall in the dead of night? And who on earth would want to harm a sweet-natured elderly lady who wouldn't hurt a fly? As Mary questions the victim's nearest and dearest, she discovers that money may have been a motive. It seems that Miss Plym was withdrawing large amounts of cash from her trust fund, and now it's nowhere to be found. Someone seems to be after the dear old woman's fortune-and they won't stop at one murder to get what they want.

Santa Louisa's Independence Day celebrations lead to a case of cold-blooded murder in the latest highly entertaining Mary McGill dog mystery. It's the 4th of July and the town celebrations have gone off without a hitch. Except for the body in the oak grove, shot in the back. The unfortunate victim was a visitor to the town. Mary McGill and her cocker spaniel Millie had seen him only that morning, staring in the window of Lowell's Jewelry store, his German Shepherd, Ranger, at his side. Could the diamond and sapphire necklace that caught his attention have some connection with his untimely death? What brought him to Santa Louisa in the first place? Having agreed to look after Ranger temporarily, Mary is unwillingly drawn into the murder investigation. She never dreamed that her enquiries would lead her into serious danger ... and more murder.

Mary McGill and her cocker spaniel Millie get the fright of their lives on Halloween when they hear gunshots coming from the bank and the robber, dressed in a clown costume, points his gun at them before fleeing the scene. Mary is horrified when she discovers Police Chief Dan Dunham has been shot in the shoulder and a woman has been killed. Why would the clown shoot an ordinary citizen? Mary soon learns that the victim is Victoria Witherspoon, a local woman who owned a sewing shop and must have recognised the clown costume – because she made it herself. With Dan in hospital and unable to investigate, can Mary and Millie unmask the savage killer clown before he strikes again?