I am Maggie Patterson, certified accountant and numbers extraordinaire. I also, haven’t had a day off since I started babysitting at the ripe age of ten, which is why I’ve applied to be Soleado Mexican Riviera Cruise Line’s newest book keeper. A job whose office is a new port every day is just what I’m looking for.

Only just shortly after arriving in my hometown of Pacific Cove, I found that my darling sister is MIA and the wine bar she owns, The Wine and Bark, is short on customers.

Maybe it’s the dead body in the kitchen that’s the problem?

Or the woman in stilettos, Yolanda, whom I found bent over him. Or her furry little dog, Beepo, that insists on relieving himself on my ankle.

The dead man is Dan Walters, manager and part-owner of DelVecchio’s, the restaurant next door to The Wine and Bark. Worse, I found a letter next to his body that implies my sister, Rachel, may have the most motive. Turns out Dan was going to turn her into the health department for hosting Yappy Hour, a dog-friendly event at the bar.

But when the sexy Officer Brad Brooks arrived on the scene and declared my sister top suspect, I know that my days off are numbered. I’ve got to jump in and run the bar and hopefully get Rachel’s name cleared.

Ah, well. It’s all in a day’s work, right?

You can read more about Maggie in Yappy Hour, the first book in the “Roundup Crew” mystery series, published by Minotaur.

About Yappy Hour

With side-splitting humor, an irresistable cast of characters—both human and canine—and an intimate small town setting, Yappy Hour is sure to delight fans of Rita Mae Brown and Diane Kelly. Every Friday night in the idyllic seaside town of Pacific Cove, CA, the Roundup Crew, a group of dog-loving friends, meet at a neighborhood wine bar for Yappy Hour. When Rachel, the owner, mysteriously leaves town and asks her sister, Maggie (who is neither pet friendly nor business savvy), to run the bar in her absence, things get complicated fast. Maggie arrives to open up and finds a body sprawled on the floor, and even worse, an incriminating letter with Rachel’s name on it nearby. On impulse, she hides the letter from the hunky detective, Officer Brad Brooks, who’s dispatched to the scene.

When Rachel is declared the top suspect by the police, Maggie decides to investigate on her own. She reopens the bar and gets to know the members of the Roundup Crew, including chief organizer Yolanda, who never goes anywhere without her signature strappy stilettos or her Chihuahua Beepo. Maggie juggles searching for clues, trying to locate Rachel, and serving up Doggie Daiquiris, Muttguaritas and homemade Arf D’Oeuvres—until another body turns up. The Roundup Crew must step in and save the bar, and it seems the only way to do that will be to solve the mystery and turn Maggie into a dog-lover in this charming, light-hearted cozy.

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About the author
Diana Orgain was born in San Francisco, CA. As a child she loved Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries and dreamed of being a writer one day. She went on to earn her B.A and M.F.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University with a minor in acting.

Diana Orgain is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the Maternal Instincts Mystery Series: Bundle of Trouble, Motherhood is Murder, Formula for Murder, and Nursing a Grudge. She is the co-author of Gilt Trip in the NY Times Bestselling Scrapbooking Mystery Series by Laura Childs. Diana’s latest series For Love Or Money is available now. Visit Diana at dianaorgain.com