Family Ties: A Cassie Grimes Mystery

Cassie Grimes is living a placid life in suburbia as an entrepreneur with a patch-work of part-time jobs: sales agent, actor and painter. She views herself as the modern Renaissance woman, though some might describe her as having a very short attention span. Too bad. As a middle-aged woman with an understanding husband, she does what she wants and gets paid sporadically from each of her many careers. She also has the flexibility to be the full-time love slave to her two Bichons, Maggie and A.J. One spring day, her life gets blasted into pandemonium. When her home is burglarized within 24 hours of her brother being brutally assaulted, she takes on another persona: amateur sleuth. She pushes her way into both investigations and finds herself caught in a world of violence. Her brother's connection to a local militia group is the key to her attack. She survived that with the help of her tiny canine commandos, but her problems have only begun. Suddenly, a host of childhood friends emerge, many with frightening purpose. An intricate web of extended families and prejudice are at the core of her problems. She's nosing around, much to the chagrin of the police, when an old boyfriend of dubious history, also appears on the scene. Then, her adult step-son is kidnapped as retribution for her meddling and all hell breaks loose. Loveable dogs, heart-pounding action and a family tree with so many branches that it looks more like a forest, will keep you glued to Cassie''''s adventures.