Dog Dish of Doom, page 25
Sam, having been briefed on the complicated saga, looked at me over his bottle of beer. “So you helped solve a crime,” he said.
“I guessed. I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.” Eydie came over to get a head scratch and was rewarded.
Sam tilted his head to one side, which more than anything else reminded me of Bruno. “It’s not nothing,” he said. “People who had done and were going to do really bad things are in jail tonight because of you.”
I looked away; that was not a responsibility I especially cared to accept. “They did what they did. They deserved to get caught and punished.”
He looked puzzled, as if he didn’t understand my response. “I’m not blaming you for anything,” he said. “I think what you did was admirable.”
“You think most things I do are admirable.” That hung in the air for a moment, and I didn’t want to milk it, so I moved on. “I’m not a detective; I’m just a showbiz girl.”
Sam’s face took on a look of mock surprise. “I thought you weren’t showbiz,” he said. “That is definitely what I was told.”
“Well, maybe I am. A little.”
Bruno ambled over, having seen Eydie get a juicy head scratch, and lobbied for his own, which he also received. I had the feeling he wasn’t going to be leaving Scarborough for a new home anytime soon. But now that Les was behind bars, he also wasn’t going to be playing Sandy on Broadway. The producers felt that his presence would attract undue publicity, given the circumstances. They opted to renew Horatio’s contract, which delighted Gwen Harper and undoubtedly annoyed pretty much everyone else involved in the Annie production. The good guys don’t always win.
Sam and I sat up for a few hours talking about things other than the events of the past week. Eventually I stopped putting logs on the stove and it gave up, just a few embers sticking around to remind us that we might contain fire but we can’t control it. The dogs all went inside on their own and took up their positions in the house to sleep.
After that, Sam got the idea that I would be happy to follow the dogs inside and he took off, noting that he had to be back in his store in scandalously few hours. He did not try to kiss me and I didn’t encourage it. We weren’t there yet.
I went into the house for a while and assessed the cleanup I’d have to do in the morning, which wasn’t much. But I didn’t want to go to sleep just yet so I put on a fleece I bought in Houston some years ago with the logo of the Johnson Space Center on it. I’m not an astronaut, but neither is anyone else who bought the fleece, so it seemed fair enough.
I sat on one of the chaise longues and looked at the sky, which tonight was as full of stars as you can get in Northern New Jersey. My thoughts, naturally, turned to Trent’s murder, Bruno’s abduction, and the dizzy group of people who had been swarming around them.
Long story short: I didn’t reach any conclusions. A lot of people with whom I might otherwise have done business had done some pretty terrible things, and if Rodriguez hadn’t sent me to spy on them, they might not have gotten caught. So I guessed that even if I was a horrible person for deceiving them, I had done it for good reasons.
I had screwed up a lot of the investigation. I’d gotten blown up. I’d had a gun pointed at me and a man I knew had tried to strangle me.
Frankly, it wasn’t the worst week I’ve ever had. After all, I’m just the agent.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Every book is a collaboration, and any author who tells you otherwise is either lying or self-deluded. Although I’ve never run into an author who said that.
This one is no exception. I could not have deposited this story into your hands, your Kindle, your tablet, or your audiobook player without many people doing their jobs and doing them well.
Chief among these is Marcia Markland, who listened to a one-sentence pitch for the series and said, “Sold.” Then we had lunch, which is always a pleasure with Marcia. She has excellent taste and is wonderful company. Marcia’s two assistants who helped move this project along, Nettie Finn and Quressa Robinson, were also of great help.
Along for that lunch was my ever-astounding agent Josh Getzler of HSG Agency, who had thought of bringing the idea to Marcia in the first place. What I know about the publishing business is roughly equivalent to what I know about sending people to Mars, so it’s always an enormous help to have Josh with me because he knows everything.
Thanks to David Rotstein, art director, for making the cover of this book look so amazing, and to the copyeditor Rachelle Mandik for catching all my mistakes, of which there were many.
Thanks to everyone online who has ever posted anything about a Tibetan mastiff because there is no doubt I have seen your work in preparing this manuscript. But some of those posts were just silly.
And thanks to the people who conduct “haunted” tours of Grand Central Terminal (not “Station!”) for filling in a few blanks and being so entertaining.
Last but certainly not least, this book is dedicated to the late Gene Wilder, who was that rare artist who could be hilarious without trying to be funny. But it is also for Copper, who was a very good dog, and Gizmo, who only thinks he is.
Also by E. J. COPPERMAN / JEFF COHEN
For Whom the Minivan Rolls
A Farewell to Legs
As Dog Is My Witness
Some Like It Hot-Buttered
It Happened One Knife
A Night at the Operation
Night of the Living Deed
An Uninvited Ghost
Old Haunts
Chance of a Ghost
The Thrill of the Haunt
Inspector Specter
Ghost in the Wind
Spouse on Haunted Hill
The Question of the Missing Head
The Question of the Unfamiliar Husband
The Question of the Felonious Friend
Written Off: A Mysterious Detective Mystery
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
E. J. COPPERMAN is someone you could sit down and have a beer with, if that’s your thing. Or a hot chocolate. Or a diet soda. Actually, you can have anything you want as long as you don’t care what E.J. is drinking.
E.J. is the author of a number of mystery series. The Agent to the Paws series begins with Dog Dish of Doom, which will be followed by the forthcoming Bird, Bath, and Beyond. Other series by this multitalented writer include the Haunted Guesthouse mysteries, Asperger’s mysteries, and Mysterious Detective mysteries. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Acknowledgments
Also by E. J. Copperman / Jeff Cohen
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A THOMAS DUNNE BOOK FOR MINOTAUR BOOKS.
An imprint of St. Martin’s Press.
DOG DISH OF DOOM. Copyright © 2017 by E. J. Copperman. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
www.thomasdunnebooks.com
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover art: dog © lantapix/Shutterstock.com; type © lesyakripak/Shutterstock.com; dish and bones © gst/Shutterstock.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Copperman, E. J., 1957– author.
Title: Dog dish of doom: an Agent to the paws mystery / E. J. Copperman. Description: New York: Minotaur Books, 2017. | “A Thomas Dunne Book.” Identifiers: LCCN 2017008617 | ISBN 978-1-250-08427-9 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-250-08428-6 (ebook)
Subjects: | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3603.O358 D64 2017 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017008617
eISBN 9781250084286
Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
First Edition: August 2017
E.J. Copperman, Dog Dish of Doom
