It was a rare quiet day at RogerDog Rescue, the shoestring shelter where I work most days. I was enjoying the peace, updating web profiles for our adoptable dogs when the director, Betty Mills, appeared out of nowhere, a rolled-up newspaper clenched in her hand.
Whap!
The newspaper slapped down hard on my desk, making me jump. Coffee sloshed on my lap and I squeaked in dismay. Betty didn’t notice; she was too wound up.
“Kelly, did you see this?” she demanded in an outraged tone, pointing to the paper. Bold headlines trumpeted “Angel Flight of Doomed Dogs Arrives in Montana.” Scanning the article, I saw the dogs were from California; they were being transported to Montana for adoption.
“Those out-of-state critters are hogging homes that should go to Montana dogs!” she barked, her hard, craggy face set in lines of fury. Betty has a soft heart buried underneath her gruff exterior, but at the moment it was nowhere in sight.
“We ain’t ever going to take in furriners, Kelly; RogerDogs is for Montana dogs only and you remember that!” She pointed a finger my direction and narrowed her eyes at me, perhaps suspecting I had a few such dogs hidden under my desk.
In response, I held my right hand up in a Girl Scout salute. “I solemnly swear, Betty, none of the airlifted dogs will come here. Now, go take care of some dogs and calm down before you have a stroke.”
With a harsh snort, Betty Mills strode to the door leading to the kennels and wrenched it open, disappearing from sight as it shut behind her.
Message received, yes, ma’am! I thought as I turned back to my computer and grinned a little. It’s never a dull day when you work with Betty Mills.
Transport of rescue dogs is a big thing across the USA, thousands of dogs a year shuttle between the states or arrive from outside USA borders. All animals deserve a good home and although I wasn’t generally opposed to the transport process, I could see Betty’s point. Our twenty-dog rescue is always full to the brim, with animals who originate right here in the Big Sky state; there are only so many homes, shouldn’t they have first dibs?
The home-grown versus transported issue was above my pay grade as second-in-command at RogerDog Rescue, though. Clearly, our rescue was never going to take in such dogs. That rule was set in stone.
Rules, like promises, are made to be broken, and ours soon crumbled like piecrust.
How were we to know death and disaster would follow?
Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a signed paperback of MURDER ON FLESHER PASS. One entry per person. U.S. residents only, please. The giveaway ends October 17, 2026. Good luck everyone!
MURDER ON FLESHER PASS
Series: A Montana Animal Rescue Mystery, Book 2
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: October 2026
Format: Print, Digital
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RogerDog Rescue of Helena, Montana, is operated solely for the benefit of Montana dogs, no transported outsiders allowed. When a fellow rescuer dies while completing a transport for an infamous Butte operation, Betty Mills, Kelly Boyd and Cici Vargas don’t believe it was an accident. They infilter the Butte group, just in time to partake in a rescue flight from Mexico. Plans go awry and they unwittingly wind up with something that multiple suspicious characters want to get their hands on. Is it the foreign dogs themselves or something else? The body count begins to grow and the danger spreads to other RogerDog workers. Can they solve the mystery before it is too late?
About the author
K.L. Borges (www.klborgesauthor.com), an Agatha Award nominated author, is a long-time resident of Montana. Prior to becoming an author, she was a math teacher at a private Billings high school (Go, Rams!). Borges is an active volunteer in the animal rescue community of south-central Montana, and a member of the Billings Gem and Mineral Society and Sisters in Crime. She and her husband are often to be found enjoying the Montana outdoors with their two blue heelers. Murder on Flesher Pass is her second book.