A Brace of Bloodhounds Book

It is a rare Saturday for Jo Beth Sidden, the owner and operator of a kennel that breeds and trains bloodhounds, a Saturday with nothing to do but spend some time with her boyfriend, who has driven 300 miles to see her. But Jo Beth's life doesn't lend itself to leisure. Before the couple can leave for a picnic, a visitor arrives. Gilly Ainsley has a bizarre message for Jo Beth: a letter from Gilly's dead mother claiming that she was murdered by the man for whom she kept house - a superior court judge - and stating that Jo Beth would bring him to justice. Jo Beth has to rack her brain to remember Gilly's mother, whom she met once years before. But when it becomes clear that Gilly, too, is in danger, Jo Beth stops worrying and goes into action. Naturally Gilly will stay at the compound. Its security is first-rate due to the fact that Jo Beth's ex-husband, Bubba, a truly dangerous man with the reddest neck this side of the Mason-Dixon line, has been stalking her ever since his release from prison. It seems that Gilly's mother saw something she shouldn't have in the woods of the Okefenokee Swamp. But that place guards its secrets well, so finding out just what the judge is hiding there will have to wait. First a search-and-rescue call plunges Jo Beth, along with her best bloodhounds, into the dense, steaming, snake-and-gator-infested swamp looking for an abducted little boy. Then the town's first bank robbery in forty years gets everyone good and excited, especially a blind one-year-old bloodhound with long ears and a remarkable nose. And in the midst of it all, Jo Beth is devastated by a brutal reminder of just how hazardous it is to be her friend. Finally it is time for the judge. JoBeth knows that in a month of Sundays she'd never be able to nail His Honor for murder. But maybe, with a little luck and a lot of legwork, she'll uncover something of which he can be found guilty.