In the close-knit town of Auburn, Oregon, Andi Clark’s therapy animals bring comfort to the community, especially during the holiday season. When a young girl seeks solace from Athena, Andi's therapy dog, after witnessing an unsettling scene behind the sleigh, it marks the beginning of a much darker holiday.
As the town gathers for the Tree Lighting Ceremony, a scream shatters the festive atmosphere. Cocoa, Andi’s loyal Border Collie, pulls her toward a chilling sight: a woman standing over the lifeless body of the girl's mother, strangled with Christmas lights.
Determined to help the grieving girl and her town recover from the shock, Andi, her therapy animals, and her niece, a county deputy, take it upon themselves to investigate. As they uncover secrets and untangle clues, they stay one step ahead of the new sheriff and worry that the killer lurking in their midst could be someone they know.
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Character Guest Post - Meet Cupcake
Hellooooo! I’m Cupcake, Andi’s pygmy goat. I love to jump on things, dance, and have a good time. I have trouble standing still. But I love when people call me cute and kids pet me. I do my best to stand still then because I don’t want to hurt anyone.
My best days are when we all load up in the Cuddle Farm van and head to a school or Andi sets up a petting zoo. I get all kinds of hugs and pets. When I say we, I mean Andi, of course, she has to drive us there and load and unload us pets.
There is also Cocoa, a brown and white border collie. She is soooo smart! She helps Andi do lots of things, but she also helps Andi when she starts to have a panic attack. She didn’t have those until after her husband died. I think losing him so quickly when they were having a fun vacation kind of shook her up. Afterall, they had been hopping from country to country solving crimes for governments and if he had died then, she would have been prepared for it. But out of the blue… wham! It hit her hard and she struggles sometimes with knowing that life can be gone in a second.
Next in line in the dogs, is Athena. She’s smart too, but not as smart as Cocoa. She’s loveable and will let me curl up with her if I’m cold. She’s a Great Pyrenees/Golden retriever mix and loves to take care of animals and people. She is kind and only growls if someone is doing something wrong.
The littlest dog, and the one I like to play with, is Lulu. She’s a chiweenie. You know, a dachshund and chihuahua cross. She has the long ears, body, and tail of a dachshund and the longer legs and shorter snout of a chihuahua which makes her fun to play with. She runs, jumps, and zooms around like I do! She has a happy attitude but can get scared easily and will shiver or hide.
I have my pen in the barn next to Sparky. He’s a miniature donkey who likes to steal things. Not just little things either! I saw him dragging a sheep water trough across the field one day. He’d taken it from the sheep pasture. Andi couldn’t figure out how it ended up in his stall in the barn.
The two animals that I haven’t really bonded with are Flopsie, the dwarf Holland Lop bunny. She’s quiet and hangs out in the bunny hutches with her friends. When we all go to events, she is let loose in the small pen Andi sets up and the kids like to chase Flopsie, pick her up, and pet her.
The other creature, because that is what she looks like- a creature, is Chicklet. She’s a silky hen, but she doesn’t look silky to me! She looks like someone didn’t put her feathers on correctly! The feathers on the top of her head and on her legs above her feet stick out like they are full of electricity. And her feathers cover her eyes. You’d think she’d run into things! But she is always the one who finds the good stuff when we are out in the farmyard. She stays in the chicken coop with five of her friends.
The last time we all went somewhere together was the Christmas Festival. We were a petting zoo for the people coming to the event. It was fun! I especially liked when a little girl named, Ava, talked to Athena and told her something she saw. That caused Andi to get involved in a murder investigation.
I hope that one of these days, I can help Andi solve a crime, just like Athena, Cocoa, and Lulu did. Athena and Cocoa even saved Andi from the killer! That makes them heroes!
I hope you enjoyed getting to know me and my friends. Pick up the book Merry Merry Merry Murder and read how we solve a murder.
About the Author:
Paty Jager is an award-winning author of murder mysteries, western romance, and action-adventure. All her work has Western or Native American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Riding horses and battling rattlesnakes in eastern Oregon, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.
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