Animal Appetite (Bantam Crime Line Books)

Dog's Life columnist Holly Winter, challenged to write about human behavior, sinks her teeth--and those of her beloved Alaskan malamutes, Rowdy and Kimi--into two mysteries. Eighteen years ago publisher Jack Andrews succumbed to poison in his coffee, leaving two suicide notes--and his golden retriever chained to the desk. His backbiting family swear he was murdered--by a crazed business partner. But they're no model of sanity either: a strident widow with well-chewed nails; a bodybuilder daughter with rottweiler tattoos; and a deranged son who forages in garbage cans, ranting about rats and relatives. What can they reveal about Jack's canine-obsessed double life? What did Jack know that was dangerous enough to get him killed? And what on earth could his death have to do with the tale of Hannah Duston, who was captured by Indians in l697, escaped, and lived to tell the tale? But even more to the point, can Holly, Rowdy, and Kimi muzzle a killer before he attacks again?