Paws before dying

MORE MYSTERIES FROM THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP…
     
    DOG LOVERS' MYSTERIES STARRING HOLLY WINTER : With her Alaskan malamute Rowdy, Holly dogs the trails of dangerous criminals. “A gifted and original writer.” —Carolyn G. Hart
    by Susan Conant
    A NEW LEASH ON DEATH    A BITE OF DEATH  DEAD AND DOGGONE           PAWS BEFORE DYING
     
    DOG LOVERS’MYSTERIES STARRING JACKIE WALSH : She’s starting a new life with her son and an ex-police dog named Jake... teaching film classes and solving crimes!
    by Melissa Cleary
    A TAIL OF TWO MURDERS    FIRST PEDIGREE MURDER    THE MALTESE PUPPY
    DOG COLLAR CRIME               SKULL AND DOG BONES       MURDER MOST BEASTLY
    HOUNDED TO DEATH            DEAD AND BURIED                  OLD DOGS
     
    SAMANTHA HOLT MYSTERIES : Dogs, cats, and crooks are all part of a day’s work for this veterinary technician... “Delightful!” -Melissa Cleary
    by Karen Ann Wilson
    EIGHT DOG FLYING                 COPY CAT CRIMES
    BEWARE SLEEPING DOGS     CIRCLE OF WOLVES
     
    CHARLOTTE GRAHAM MYSTERIES : She’s an actress with a flair for dramatics—and an eye for detection. “You’ll get hooked on Charlotte Graham!”
    —Rave Reviews
    by Stefanie Matteson
    MURDER AT THE SPA             MURDER AT THE FALLS
    MURDER AT TEATIME            MURDER ON HIGH
    MURDER ON THE CLIFF         MURDER AMONG THE ANGELS
    MURDER ON THE SILK ROAD                 MURDER UNDER THE PALMS
     
    PEACHES DANN MYSTERIES : Peaches has never had a very good memory. But she’s learned to cope with it over the years... Fortunately, though, when it comes to murder, this absentminded amateur sleuth doesn’t forgive and forget!
    by Elizabeth Daniels Squire
    WHO KILLED WHAT’S-HER-NAME?    REMEMBER THE ALIBI
    MEMORY CAN BE MURDER WHOSE DEATH IS IT, ANYWAY?
     
    HEMLOCK FALLS MYSTERIES : The Quilliam sisters combine their culinary and business skills to run an inn in upstate New York. But when it comes to murder, their talent for detection takes over...
    by Claudia Bishop
    A TASTE FOR MURDER           A DASH OF DEATH
    A PINCH OF POISON                MURDER WELL-DONE
     

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
     
     
    This Berkley Prime Crime Book contains the complete text of the original edition.
     
    PAWS BEFORE DYING
     
    A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author
     
    PRINTING HISTORY
    Diamond edition / August 1991
    Berkley Prime Crime edition / December 1993
     
    All rights reserved.
    Copyright © 1991 by Susan Conant.
    This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
    For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016.
     
    ISBN: 0-425-14430-5
     
    Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
    200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016.
    The name BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the BERKLEY PRIME CRIME design are trademarks of Berkley Publishing Corporation.
    PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
    10 9 8 7 6 5 4
     

 
     
    To Vivian Carter Umbarger
    In memory of
    Her coyte-dog hybrid
    Rowdy.
     
     

 
    Acknowledgments
     
    Many thanks to Joel Woolfson, D.V.M., and William Walker, D.V.M., for advice about this book as well as for their care of my beloved Alaskan malamutes, Frostfield Arctic Natasha, C.D., and Frostfield Firestar’s Kobuk.
     

Author's Note
     
    Several canine characters in the book are based on real dogs, including my own, but all actual institutions and locales are used fictionally.
     
     

Chapter 1

     
    ACCORDING to family legend, allergies were the excuse my Aunt Cassie and her husband, Arthur, gave for failing to attend my parents’ wedding. My mother, though, believed that the real reason they skipped it was fear: Arthur harbored an inborn terror of life itself, Marissa always argued. You might suppose that she referred to some aversion to the symbolic significance of nuptials, but she didn’t. She meant that Arthur was afraid of dogs.
    Arthur and Cassie’s absence from my parents’ wedding pictures, though, is somewhat less striking than is the