(no title)

The pages of this web site outline some of the themes explored in the book.

Maya Whitmore is forced to abandon job, boyfriend, and happy Ohio lifestyle when her county bans ownership of pit bulls. She has five of them. They haven’t killed anyone or attacked or even threatened, but the authorities say they have to go. Maya and her dogs head north to Michigan to start a new life, where her dog-loving friend, Emmy Davison, has found them a rental house in a scary neighborhood.

In their own peculiar way, Maya’s new neighbors are warm and helpful. She feels at home with them and with her other new friend, a former dancer from Key West whose name is sometimes Conrad Hamilton and sometimes Patience N’Amour.

It’s not the first time Maya has tried to leave trouble behind.  She has a terrible secret, known to very few.  She’s spent her adult life retreating from it, but it dwells with her, lying in wait for the right moment to engulf her.

Maya and her dogs have barely settled into their rundown shack when animal rights extremists sabotage a dog show.  Shortly afterwards an acquaintance of Maya’s and Emmy’s succumbs to a killer with a quirky MO.  The victim leaves behind forty miniature schnauzers locked in crates. They are taken in by the local humane society, whose director has ambitious plans for them – plans unrelated to their welfare.

As a volunteer at the shelter, Emmy soon finds herself enmeshed in its shady undertakings, while Maya falls under scrutiny of two detectives investigating a murder.  And let’s not forget those dogs of hers. They are targeted as well – by the law, the shelter, and a national animal rights organization.  Before the truth is finally revealed, the lives of human and canine alike are in danger, and it’s not at all clear who can save them.