Occupation: German Shepherd Hero

Today has been anything but typical. It started out great. How could it not be great? I’m here in Cannon Beach, Oregon, on vacation with my two best human slaves, yoga teacher Kate Davidson and her boyfriend Michael Massey. Well, I’m sort of on vacation with both of them. Kate and Michael are fighting, so even though he’s in the same city as Kate and me, he’s staying with his sister.

Kate and Michael’s fight has something to do with a person Kate calls his “wife.” I think that means another female thinks she’s the boss of Michael. Humans can be so silly sometimes. If they were dogs, the three of them would have had a good snarl fest, Kate would have reminded them all she was the alpha, and the pack would be reunited again.

Still, the day started out great. After my breakfast, Kate took me for a long beach walk. I don’t like other dogs very much, so she kept me on leash at first, but we found a deserted area and she let me run! I chased seagulls, sniffed at sand dollars, and ran after sticks. Kate did some yoga on the beach, until a huge wave knocked her on her rear. Kate didn’t find that nearly as funny as I did. She tried to call Michael about five hundred times, but for some reason he didn’t answer.

On our way back to the rental house, I caught a whiff of something bad, and not in the I-need-to-roll-in-that way I love so much. This smell was dangerous. This smell was dead human. I may live in Seattle, but even a city dog like me knows that humans aren’t supposed to be buried on the beach.

So naturally, I dug up the body to investigate.

That’s when everything went crazy. Turns out, the body I found is Michael’s wife! After Kate talked to a nice lady from the police, she took me back to the rental house. She spent some time staring at the box she calls a computer. It must have told her where Michael was, because before I could finish eating my ostrich tendon, Kate had loaded me into the car and we went to meet Michael.

Man, did he ever smell funny when we found him.

Kate said he smelled like whiskey and body odor, but I also smelled saltwater, sand, and the terrifying scent of depression. I hate to say it, but Kate doesn’t smell so great herself. She smells like stress. And anxiety. And disappointment.

I waited outside the bathroom while Michael showered, but before Michael and Kate could talk, two people wearing dark blue uniforms showed up at the door. I tried to chase them off, but Michael made Kate lock me in the bathroom. (How rude!) I can’t see them right now, but I can hear them, and I know a lot more English than people realize. They are asking Michael about the body I found buried at the beach. They seem to think he put her there. It’s ridiculous, of course, and I’d bite them for saying something so rude, but I’m trapped here in the bathroom. Do you think Michael will be okay? Will our pack be reunited again?

You can read more about Bella in Pre-Meditated Murder, the fifth book in the “Downward Dog” mystery series. The first book in the series is Murder Strikes a Pose.

If Kate Doesn’t Act Fast, the Only “I Do” in Michael’s Future Will Be at His Trial

Yoga instructor Kate Davidson is ready to marry her boyfriend Michael, so she’s disappointed when a special dinner doesn’t end with a proposal. But disappointment turns to dismay and outrage as she learns the real problem: Michael is already married and his estranged wife is blackmailing him.

When his wife’s body is found―by Kate and her dog, no less―Michael is strangely unable to remember where he was the night she died. Since Michael has no alibi, Kate steps up to uncover what happened. What she walks into is a tangled web of deceit, obsession, and immigration fraud . . . with Michael trapped in the middle.

Purchase Link
# # # # # # # # # # #

About the author
Tracy Weber is the author of the award-winning Downward Dog Mysteries series. The first book in the series, Murder Strikes a Pose, won the Maxwell Award for Fiction and was nominated for the Agatha award for Best First Novel.

Tracy and her husband Marc live in Seattle with their crazy new German shepherd pup, Ana. When she’s not writing, Tracy spends her time teaching yoga, trying to corral Ana, and sipping Blackthorn cider at her favorite ale house.

For more information on Tracy and the Downward Dog Mysteries, visit her author website at TracyWeberAuthor.com.