A generous woman is dead, her bequest is forty thousand dollars short, and the shelter she loved is about to be accused of taking it.

Eleanor Vance left Paws & Purpose the medical wing she had promised them for years. Then the probate summary arrives, the numbers refuse to match the letter Eleanor sent in September, and it references a codicil nobody at the shelter has ever seen. Mia Harper has a holiday open house to run, a volunteer list falling apart, and no intention of letting Eleanor’s last wishes be quietly rewritten.

The answer is in a banker’s box of donated papers, delivered to the shelter by the companion who spent four years at Eleanor’s side. Correspondence that grows shorter and cooler over time. A hidden compartment in a writing desk. A foundation with a name that is one surname too long. And a rescue dog with very strong opinions about which box matters.

The fourth Paws & Purpose Mystery. Warm, funny, and set in the last cold week before Christmas, with a legacy to restore and a shelter to clear.