When volunteer coordinator Mia Harper arrives early at the Paws & Purpose animal shelter, she expects another quiet morning of kennel cards and coffee.

Instead, she finds a body behind the building – and her rescue dog Biscuit standing guard over the scene.

The victim is Dale Maddox, a property developer whose connection to the small-town shelter makes no sense. As the investigation unfolds, Mia notices what the police overlook: a missing dog file, a third handwriting in the records, and Biscuit’s relentless fixation on a locked filing cabinet.

Biscuit can’t speak. But she can smell the truth.

As Mia follows the scent trail from forged adoption records to a hidden financial ledger, she uncovers a fraud that reaches far beyond the shelter’s cinderblock walls. With her volunteer privileges revoked and the community turning against her, Mia must decide how far she’ll go to protect the animals – and whether a forty-five-pound hound mix with a good nose is the only witness she needs.

Rescue Dog Reckoning is the first book in the Paws & Purpose mystery series – a cozy mystery for readers who love clever dogs, small-town secrets, and heroines who notice what everyone else misses.