Life has pulled the rug out from under me. I’d finally gathered the nerve to follow my dream of becoming a cop. That meant conquering the grueling hiring process—the applications, written tests, interviews, polygraph, medical clearance and physical abilities testing. I’m talking about running, pushups and sit-ups. Some pretty intense standards. Yet I passed. All of it. Next step was the police academy. As I settled in, I knew I’d found my calling. Awkwardly tall and athletic, I finally found a place where I belonged. I was thirsty for the knowledge bestowed upon me by the instructors.
But then the gavel dropped. The boom was lowered. I found myself left in a lurch.
I woke one morning to swollen, painful hands. At the gun range, I could barely pull the trigger or load the magazine. What the heck was happening to me?
At first I tried to hide it. But in the academy, everything you do is under a microscope. My sergeant encouraged me to seek medical attention. “Looks like Rheumatoid Arthritis,” the MD said. “I’m only thirty,” was my reply. But RA doesn’t care if you’re seven or seventy. When it comes for you, there isn’t much you can do about it. Meds would help with the symptoms, but I was no longer fit for duty. I would never become a cop.
They say that when one door closes, another one opens. In another stroke of bad luck, my aunt Jo-Jo had a serious car accident with a long road to recovery. My aunt’s misfortune became a distraction for me. I wouldn’t have time to wallow in my misery. A cross-country trip with my Cocker Spaniel, Noah, brought me to the Pacific Northwest Island community of Orca Cove where my aunt owned a pet hotel.
I’d taken the occasional respite there as a child when my mom fought her demons, and the town, like my aunt, held a special place in my heart. My aunt had always been there for me, and I’d gladly return the favor. I’d help out at Wiggle Butt Manor while she convalesced.
No sooner had we arrived than I found out Lucy Masanova, the owner of the mischievous basic brown dog, Maya, never came to claim her from the hotel. I reported the suspicious circumstances to the local hot cop, Nick Sabato. It wasn’t easy to ignore how hard my heart pitter-pattered when I looked at him. But I tried to fight it. For starters, I’d have to go back to my life in New Jersey eventually. And I didn’t have the heart to tell him that some days I struggled with buttoning my blouse. Yup, a relationship was out of the question.
It became harder to keep my distance after I stumbled across Lucy Masanova’s body, and we soon learned she’d met with foul play. As the cards stacked against my aunt, pointing to her as the number one suspect, I did everything I could to steer Nick away from investigating her. The best way to do that was to find the killer. And with a little help from Maya, I just might be able to figure things out. But to do so, I’ll have to expose some long-buried secrets that will upset the whole town.
Diamond In The Ruff – A Wiggle Butt Manor Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: May 2025
Format: Digital, Print
Purchase Link
Charlie Calderbank thought she’d found her calling when she entered the police academy. A sudden onset of rheumatoid arthritis forces her to rethink her future. When her Aunt Jo-Jo suffers injuries in a car accident, Charlie offers to help at her aunt’s pet hotel, Wiggle Butt Manor, in the charming Pacific Northwest island town of Orca Cove.
With Noah, her Cocker Spaniel, by her side, she settles into life on the island. When the owner of the precocious mutt, Maya, is found murdered, Jo-Jo becomes a suspect. Charlie tries to protect her aunt and find the real killer. She becomes immersed in the community’s secrets and becomes attracted to the hot local cop trying to solve the case. The killer will do anything to hide the truth, including making Charlie the next victim.
About the author
Cindy Goyette is a former probation officer who had a front row seat to the criminal justice system. She kept her sanity by finding humor in most situations. A mix of these things helped her create The Probation Case Files Mystery Series. Book one OBEY ALL LAWS won a Public Safety Writer’s Association award and it was a finalist for the LEFTY award for best debut. EARLY TERMINATION, book two in the series, was released January 2025 and book three is in the works. Her first cozy mystery, DIAMOND IN THE RUFF, A Wiggle Butt Manor Mystery, is book one in what will be a series. After spending over twenty years in Arizona, Cindy lives in Washington state with her husband and two Cocker Spaniels.