As she begins to clean up, Delilah finds a deed to a piece of land in Nevada in the toe of a pair of vulgar ostrich boots her late husband Roger gave her the last time she saw him. She also finds a matchbook embossed with the name of the motel in Las Vegas that Delilah had last seen Roger in, with a series of numbers printed inside the cover. Roger had gone to Vegas frequently over the course of his short marriage to Delilah, always without her. During his last trip, Delilah also found herself in Vegas looking for the dog of a neighbor that had been spotted in a dog review at a casino.

It is this meeting that makes Delilah realize that Roger is involved in very shady operations and she never sees him again after that night. He is found dead several months later, a case that has remained unsolved for almost two years.

Delilah realizes that the key to who broke into her house and what the deed means lie in Vegas, so she packs her sidekick, Doberman pinscher Watson, and heads to Vegas where she meets up with the same shady characters Roger was with the night he died. She finds herself back at the same place where she found the stolen dog two years ago, leading readers to wonder two things…Why, after reclaiming the stolen dog two years ago, didn't she call the authorities about this circus act, reasonably assuming that if one dog was stolen, others also might be. Also, running into the same people from two years ago should have given her a clue that they are probably the ones after her.

The mystery is pretty easy to figure out and the characters are, for the most part, bland. Delilah's friend Tony, once a friend of Roger's, appears to be on Delilah's side and she continues to blindly trust him, even though he could easily be part of the past coming back to haunt and hurt her. The question of why the people waited two years to come after their deed is not explained satisfactorily, nor is any thought given as to why the land owners did not go to the Hall of Records, explain the deed was missing and go about proving the land was theirs and reclaiming it, since they knew Roger was dead and that Delilah had not made any attempts to claim the land as part of his estate.

One good thing comes of all this, Delilah will now be able to put her past behind her, come to terms with the mistake she made marrying Roger, and move ahead with her blossoming relationship with Detective Jack Mallory. Cozy mystery fans who are dog lovers may be interested in this episode of the pet detective.

-- Jennifer Monahan Winberry