When starving artist Lia Anderson stumbles upon a dead diva, it's no walk in the dog park. Meet Buddy, Dasher, and Rory, three adorable fur boys often in the care of Hannah, the ever-efficient admin at Hopewell Music Academy, site of Lia's latest mural commission. Hannah can juggle anything the academy tosses at her, except the Machiavellian voice professor who owns the fur boys and whose demoralizing and career-crushing ways are the dark underbelly of the prestigious academy. When the professor is murdered, it's impossible to find someone who didn't want him dead. A mysterious informant is determined to involve Lia's beau, Detective Peter Dourson, though it's not Peter's case now that the Cincinnati Police Department has created a centralized unit to handle homicides. With Peter hamstrung by departmental politics, it's time for Lia and the dog park gang step in. (75,000 words)