Dead Drop on the Ridge: A Paws in the Pines Mystery

About Dead Drop on the Ridge: A Paws in the Pines Mystery

Wildlife photographer Nora Beckett came to Thornwall Basin for the birds. Six weeks in a remote forest cabin, a modest day rate from a conservation nonprofit, and strict orders to herself: stay out of other people's business. It was a reasonable plan — right up until her beagle, Hopper, bolted down the ridge trail at dawn and led her straight to a body at the base of the Ridgewatch lookout.

The railing is missing, the bolt holes are clean, and the handful of old friends who spent the weekend at guide Remy Kowalski's nearby lodge all swear they never left their rooms. Deputy Terrance Kemp is the only law in a very large stretch of Fircroft County, and he's stretched paper-thin. When he realizes that Nora asks the right questions and stays out of his way, he's willing to accept a little unofficial help — especially from a beagle with a nose that doesn't lie.

As Nora digs into Remy's past, she uncovers a secret worth killing for: one of his guests was responsible for a wilderness accident years ago that cost another man his life, and Remy had been quietly collecting on it ever since. Now someone has decided the debt is settled.