Death Walks A Dog

Now that she’s in her fifties, Penelope Standing has life pretty well figured out. Her pet sitting business keeps her busy, her neighbors are conspiring to get her boyfriend, Jake, to propose, and she has just enough free time to make the corrupt mayor’s life miserable. Then she arrives to walk Brutus, the lovable but ill-behaved mastiff — and finds his owner, Jezza, dead. While the police work to uncover Jezza’s past, Penelope launches an investigation of her own, talking to her clients as she takes care of their pets. Even Brutus, “temporarily” staying with Penelope and Jake, provides clues. More than one person had a motive for murder. But only one of them is coming after Penelope… *** Fans of the wit and humor of the following authors also enjoy this cozy mystery series: Janet Evanovich Kaitlyn Dunnet Krista Davis Lynn Cahoon Catherine Bruns Vicki Delany Ann S. Marie Paula Darnell Jessica Beck London Lovett Ellen Byron Eva Gates Carline Fardig Joanne Fluke Amanda Flower Fans of the wit and humor of the following series also enjoy this cozy mystery series: Stephanie Plum Mysteries Deadly Edits Mysteries Paws & Claws Mysteries Farm-to-Fork Mysteries Cookies & Chance Mysteries Tea by the Sea Mysteries Dana Sweet Cozy Mysteries Fine Art Mysteries The Donut Mysteries Port Danby Cozy Mysteries Cajun Country Mysteries Lighthouse Library Mysteries Southern B&B Mysteries Hannah Swensen Mysteries Amish Candy Shop Mysteries *** KEYWORDS: cozy mystery, dog walker, pet sitter, strong female protagonist, mature characters, couple in love, small town, mastiff, feminist, humor, witty banter

In a book that draws on both personal stories and research presents an in-depth exploration of the practical, medical and moral issues that trouble pet owners confronted with the decline and death of their companion animals.

_______________ '[An] acutely observed collection of occasional pieces that pick at absurdist life and reveal him to be a quiz, a cultural critic gifted with precise comic timing' - The Times 'The author's prose is always a delight ... a book that manages the high-wire act of being genuinely funny while dispensing genuine wisdom' - Times Literary Supplement 'Jacobson is one of the great sentence-builders of our time. I feel I have to raise my game, even just to praise ... In short, he is one of the great guardians of language and culture - all of it. Long may he flourish' - Nicholas Lezard, Guardian _______________ Week after week, for eighteen years, the Booker Prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson wrote a weekly column for the Independent, reflecting in inimitable style on the sacred and the profane in turn, the frivolous and the serious, the deeply personal and the most universal. The shame and humiliation inherent in death is explored with frank astuteness. Matisse, darts and the power of love are celebrated; while cyclists are very much censured. And meanwhile, a beloved old Labrador walks his last walk as life elsewhere hurtles on and away... The Dog's Last Walk is a collection of wisdom and iconoclasm for our uncertain times, and one that reveals one of our greatest writers in all his humanity. _______________ 'Sharp and playful, surreal and thoughtful, and occasionally ... rather moving' - New Statesman 'Yes, Jacobson is an entertainer ... And he does indeed entertain, but in a way that stimulates rather than simply amuses' - Sunday Telegraph 'His columns were always one of the best things in [the Independent] – funny, argumentative, contrary and stuffed with ideas as well as a big, sympathetic personality' - Philip Hensher, Spectator

Footsteps swiftly crunching away through the snow signalling her reluctant departure, as she ran- good girl. Three weeks ago I didn’t even know who she was, three weeks ago the world made sense. Before they came, the dead, we called them Walkers as that’s all they seemed to do, walk and eat, and we are on the menu and not just people either. Whatever it was affecting humanity was also affecting animals, you couldn’t walk the streets without being attacked by someone’s prized pet poodle, or a monkey. It spread like an infection, first in small towns, originally dismissed as riots, but it didn’t feel right, cannibalistic type murders in rural areas, a whole town shut off from the rest of America. You want to know what the hell is going on? Well if you’re asking me, you’re asking the wrong person, one day everything was as normal as it could ever get and the next? Good morning America became: Holy crap the end is nigh.

This eponymous comic became an instant hit when it went live on The Oatmeal.com and was liked on Facebook by 700,000 fans. Now fans will have a keepsake book of this comic to give and to keep. In My Dog: The Paradox, Inman discusses the canine penchant for rolling in horse droppings, chasing large animals four times their size, and acting recklessly enthusiastic through the entirety of their impulsive, lovable lives. Hilarious and heartfelt, My Dog: The Paradox eloquently illustrates the complicated relationship between man and dog. We will never know why dogs fear hair dryers, or being baited into staring contests with cats, but as Inman explains, perhaps we love dogs so much “because their lives aren’t lengthy, logical, or deliberate, but an explosive paradox composed of fur, teeth, and enthusiasm.”

Every culture has some type of figure of Death. The Grim Reaper who collects souls as they lie dying. For some he is the cruel face of an end come too soon, for others a gentle healer of life lived too long. But there is another face to this spectural figure. Death walks through the world, helping those souls that linger between this world and the next, those trapped by circumstance, wish, desire or loss. So many souls linger needing but a gentle voice and hand to help them move past the final moments of their lives. This collection contains 15 tales of beings who either know not that they are dead or just how to move on. This book collects together 14 previous published short stories and includes one totally new story.