The dog days of summer are murder for a Tennessee kennel owner turned amateur sleuth in this "fantastic whodunit" (Cozy Reader Review).

Canine-boarder and proud new mama to a corgi puppy, Mae December and her sister July are in the midst of restoring the Booth Mansion, a local landmark. Then July makes an alarming discovery in the nursery. A man has been shot dead—and not just any man. Tom Ferris was the love of July's life until he disappeared with no explanation fifteen years ago. Now he's returned to Rosedale for reasons just as mysterious, only to end up in a strange home with a bullet in his back.

The small-town gossip mill is churning, July's marriage is imploding, and Mae's loyalties are torn—between her devotion to a sister under suspicion, and her love for Sheriff Ben Bradley. With a murder investigation this personal, Mae has no choice but to go rogue and find the killer by herself. But digging up the past winds up implicating more friends and neighbors than she's comfortable with, and it's getting more dangerous than she can imagine.