Holly Miller is excited to be preparing for her beloved grandmother’s upcoming birthday celebrations. Liesl Miller–or Oma, as she’s affectionately known–is well-loved throughout their pet-friendly Virginia mountain resort town of Wagtail, so it isn’t a surprise that almost everyone around wants to be part of the festivities. Despite this, Oma has demurred gifts this year, wanting only the presence of the people she cares about as their present to her.

This especially applies to her far-flung family, who has been flying in for the occasion. Alas that their arrivals are not without drama, as messy relationships take center stage. Holly is used to handling this kind of thing, but even she is nonplussed to wake up to find a strange dog in her bed one morning.

Some sleuthing leads her to believe that the dog actually belongs to her beloved cousin Josh, who seems to be camped out across the lake from the inn with a young woman named Dana. Josh seems pretty evasive about why he isn’t staying at the inn with the others, but Holly figures he’ll confide in her when he’s ready. He’s ecstatic to be reunited with his dog, Radar, though, so it comes as a surprise when Holly wakes up the next day to find Radar in her bed again. A worse shock awaits her when she goes to return Radar to Josh once more and finds a dead body in his sleeping bag. Fortunately, the body isn’t Josh’s, but he quickly and unsurprisingly falls under suspicion of murder.

While this news certainly dampens the mood of the birthday festivities, Holly is determined to quickly clear her cousin’s name and restore her family to good cheer. After all, she and Josh grew up together; he would never hurt anyone, much less strangle them to death. But the more she learns about what he’s been up to since they last met, the more she can’t help worrying about how different he might now be from the sweet, animal-loving boy she once knew.

Obstacles abound as Holly chases after the truth, not helped by the injury sustained by Officer Doug, the trusty local sergeant responsible for law enforcement in Wagtail. While Doug and Holly do their best to maneuver with his broken leg, a devious criminal lurks in the shadows, ready to kill again.

This was another charming installment of the Paws and Claws mystery series, with a wealth of vividly drawn characters, both human and animal. Holly leaps to several puzzling conclusions over the course of the book that seemed somewhat out of character for her, in my opinion, though the trying circumstances could certainly justify her imprudence. It was nice to see her do her best with her extended family, though, and especially with her half-siblings.

There were eight recipes for food and drinks included, for both dogs and humans. I absolutely had to try out this one:

Crostini with Salmon

(NOT for dogs)

This is a recipe you can have fun with. Keep it simple and use flavors that you like. There are no rules!

Ingredients

1 loaf ciabatta bread or baguette

Extra virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Ricotta cheese or cream cheese

Smoked salmon

Fresh dill (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the bread. Brush each slice with olive oil on both sides. Bake 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Spread ricotta or cream cheese on the bread. Top with sliced smoked salmon. Garnish with a sprig of fresh dill or a twist of freshly ground black pepper.

I love a good crostini, and the baking instructions were absolutely ideal for getting that perfectly toasted but not too hard consistency that I prefer. I used whipped cream cheese for this recipe and highly recommend it; it’s so easy to spread even when just out of the refrigerator. There was a miscommunication in my household as to whether or not we had dill, so I decided to try out arugula instead, which I thought gave the crostinis a nice peppery bite while also packing in extra vitamins. I also added a tiny little sprinkle of parsley for color, as initially I’d only put arugula on half of the crostinis to accommodate for my family’s varying tastes. Finally, we had a little fun by using different kinds of smoked salmon, which took center stage wonderfully in these handheld savory treats.

Next week, we travel north to more urban areas to whip up a dessert while investigating who would cut down an up-and-coming singer. Do join me!

See also: Cooking the Books: Now You See It by Carol J. Perry