Bark M for Murder (2006)

Who let the dogs out?

Evildoers beware! Four of mystery fiction's top storytellers are setting the hounds on your trail -- in an incomparable quartet of crime stories with a canine edge.

Man's (and woman's) best friends take the lead in this phenomenal collection of tales tense and surprising, humorous and thrilling:

New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance's spellbinding saga of a scam-busting septuagenarian and her two golden retrievers;

Anthony Award winner Virginia Lanier's pureblood thriller featuring bloodhounds and bloody murder;

Chassie West's suspenseful stunner about a life-saving German shepherd and a ghastly forgotten crime;

rising star Lee Charles Kelley's edge-of-your-seat yarn that pits an ex-cop/kennel owner and a yappy toy poodle against a craven killer.

Lanier and Kelley both write about their series characters. Lanier's Jo Beth Siddon is a gutsy business owner in the Deep South; she runs bloodhounds for search and rescue missions. Kelley's Jack Field is a dog trainer who has a side job assisting his girlfriend (the medical examiner) with some of her cases. Each story gives the reader an introduction to the series, a feeling for the main characters, as well as a nicely plotted story.

Jance writes two series, one about JP Beaumont and one about Sheriff Joanna Brady. Her story THE CASE OF THE LONDON CABBIE has nothing to do with either series. It's set in Seattle, and features a grandmotherly woman with some minor experience in crime solving. While her golden retrievers don't play a major role in the story, they are major characters in Maddy Watkins life. Don't let the Mrs Doubtfire exterior fool you -- Maddy Watkins is no simpering idjit.

West's story is set in the south, and one of the supporting characters is a retired rescue German Shepherd named Duke. Duke helps an accident victim keep herself from becoming a homicide victim, and takes her back to his owner. AJ, the almost drowned rat, has temporary amnesia and isn't sure if Jake is a good guy or a bad guy. By the end of this story, everyone knows who's who and what's what.