The Bark Before Christmas

It's Christmas again, and Melanie Travis barely has time to pencil in some holiday festivities. Especially once she finds herself making a list of murder suspects--and checking it twice. . .Between her son Davey, teaching, and showing her Standard Poodle puppy, Eve, all Melanie wants for Christmas is a dull moment. But when Davey's bus driver, Henry Pruitt, disappears, Melanie is concerned. The elderly Henry was a friend to all in the neighborhood, so she decides to check on him. . .only to find that he died two days earlier, under suspicious circumstances. As if that weren't bad enough, Henry's two Golden Retrievers are now bereft. Melanie brings them to her Aunt Peg, the most stubborn woman on the planet, who's now determined to find out the truth about Henry's death, no matter what. Soon Aunt Peg has Melanie leashed to another murder investigation. And unless she sniffs out this Scrooge of a killer fast, a lump of coal may not be the worst thing Melanie gets...