Ok, it's official ... I have become addicted to these Animal Instincts books. We have Griff Fitzpatrick, the animal communicator who loves the animals but has studied animal behavior and puts that together with human behavior and figures out what is going on. He has become good at solving murder mysteries. But what has me hooked is that it's like one continuous novel. Each book comes to a clear end but with the succeeding book Griff grows and changes. That's what has me hooked. This guy goes from being one who treats from life, little by little coming out of his "stay in the background" mindset.
He had a personal tragedy and in each book he learns more of the truth about his sister's disappearance about a decade ago.
Meanwhile he is flirting with a police investigator, Sheila, and in each book their romance becomes a little more involved.
In this story Griff is hired by another police department to talk to the animals in a puppy mill to find out what they know about the woman buried at the bottom of the barn. I admit the description of the puppy mill when Griff arrives is little hard to stomach. Like Griff, I feel for the poor animals. One of the pups, a female corgie, becomes attached to Griff and he now has a new family member, currently called "Number 32" which is what the owner of the puppy mill referred to her as. Griff goes into investigative mode and through some involved footwork is able to discover the identity of the deceased woman and who murdered her and the owner of the puppy mill. Of course, luck plays a part in Griff's investigation but he is a real adjunct to any police department. Immediately upon finishing this I had to pick up the next in the series.