Hi, everyone! I’m Samantha Armstrong. I’m talking to you before the sun is up from the fancy, small town of Palm Beach. Home to sunshine, sandy beaches, mansions and—as it turns out—murder. Yep, I found a dead body on the floor yesterday morning. It was supposed to be the Grand Opening to Canine Confections, my dog bakery, but Whitney Goodwin’s lifeless body next to the Peanut Butter Delights in the display case put an end to that. It was awful. I had never seen a dead body before, and poor Whitney’s parents were beside themselves with grief. One good thing that came out of Whitney’s murder is that I got to keep her dog Sweet Pea. She’s thirty-five pounds of love, and I’m hoping she enjoys coming to work with me every day to greet the customers and be my taste-tester.

It’s only four a.m. right now, but I could hardly sleep last night from worrying about who killed poor Whitney and how to make sure my Aunt Mary’s investment in Canine Confections doesn’t go down the drain. Sweet Pea and I step outside the front door of our cottage on my aunt’s estate. I look up to see if I could make out any lights on in the mansion. Nope. Hopefully, Aunt Mary is still sleeping. More likely, she’s in a room I can’t see from this vantage point getting an early start to her physical therapy routine. She’s impatient to get better, even when it’s to her own detriment. Not that I have a right to complain about her impatience. It runs in the family.

I unclick Sweet Pea’s leash since we’re safely tucked away on the estate and she runs toward the back of the mansion where the pool and tennis court are located. I run after her and trip over a bush. I cry out and Sweet Pea must hear me because she runs back to me, then licks my face until I stand up. I laugh and rub her wiggly body and follow her to the backyard. She busies herself sniffing the ground at a lemon tree under the moonlight and though I want to spend quality time with the furry girl, I can’t help myself. I pull out my cell and do a quick search for the latest news on Worth Avenue. Sure enough, an article on ghost sightings at Canine Confections pops up. Exactly what I was afraid of.

I join Sweet Pea under the tree and smell the sweet, tart scent of lemons. She celebrates that I’ve joined her by nuzzling the palm of my hand. I pet the top of her furry head and gaze up at Aunt Mary’s dark windows.

Sweet Pea’s owner deserves to have justice served. And there’s no way Aunt Mary is going to watch her money go down the drain. The police better find the murderer and fast.

Otherwise, I’m going to have to insert myself into their investigation no matter the cost to my own wellbeing.

Paws for Concern is the first book in the “Canine Confections” cozy mystery series, released August 2020.

Life is good for Samantha Armstrong. She left her cheating boyfriend, settled into her cozy cottage on her Aunt Mary’s Palm Beach estate and is finally opening Canine Confections, her dream dog bakery on the ritzy Worth Avenue.

But Samantha’s happy new life goes doggone crazy when Palm Beach resident and pastry shop owner Whitney Goodwin is found dead on Canine Confections’ floor, whisking Samantha into the middle of a murder investigation. The only bright spot is that she finds herself adopting Whitney’s loveable dog Sweet Pea.

As the killer strikes again, it’s obvious that the shopkeepers on Worth Avenue are the target. Samantha’s impatience won’t let sleeping dogs lie. She takes it upon herself to move things along by padding around town with Sweet Pea and sniffing out clues to clear her name and Canine Confections’ reputation—before it is too late . . .

Includes a recipe from Chef Sarah Deters at the test kitchen of Three Dog Bakery, the original bakery for dogs!

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Meet the author
SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actor’s Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) require actors and singers to already have a performing job before they let you in. Well, anyway, that’s how it worked back when I joined. Luckily, I did. I was hired to sing a commercial for a . . . wait for it . . . air conditioning company. Sexy, right?

I’m also a member of Mystery Writers of America and I’ve written some mysteries for Woman’s World Magazine, the cheerful magazine at your grocery store checkout line.

Connect with Amy on her website at amyhueston.com, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and on Goodreads.

All comments are welcomed.