Tails tuxedos and troubl.., p.1
Tails, Tuxedos, and Trouble, page 1
About the Book
With this paw, I thee wed.
When Clarissa Hayes’s friend Shelbee asks for her help planning a doggy wedding, Clarissa jumps to make it a memorable day. But things take a turn when her mischievous Saint Bernard, Paw, sniffs out a mystery at the mall.
Clarissa is too focused on the wedding to pay attention to Paw’s warning signs. Will Paw guide Clarissa to the truth before it’s too late? And with the wedding fast approaching, will the bride and groom say “I do,” or will canine chaos reign supreme?
Join Clarissa and her furry friends on a thrilling adventure that will have you on the edge of your seat until the very end!
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BOOKS IN THE SERIES:
SHORT STORIES:
The Mystery of the Blue Dolphins
The Mystery of Aunt Carol’s Disappearance
The Mystery of the Body in the Shed
The Mystery of the Missing Bear
The Mystery of the Missing Actor
SHORT STORY COLLECTION:
A Dog Detective Short Story Collection (1-5)
NOVELS:
Mastiffs, Mystery, and Murder
Bassets and Blackmail
Canines and Crime
Dogs, Dalliances, and Death
NOVEL BOXSET:
A Dog Detective Series Books 1-3
AUDIOBOOKS:
Mastiffs, Mystery, and Murder
Bassets and Blackmail
A CLEVER CAT DETECTIVE SERIES:
NOVELS:
Meowing for Murder
Tails, Tuxedos, and Trouble
A Dog Detective Series
Sandra Baublitz
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, and people are the imagination of the author and fictitious. Any resemblance to actual people (living or dead), places, or names/businesses is purely coincidental.
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TAILS, TUXEDOS, AND TROUBLE
Copyright © 2023 Sandra Baublitz
Author website: www.sandrabaublitz.com
Cover art by The Cover Coven
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To the Dog Detective newsletter subscribers.
Thank you.
“Dog Detective Rule #5: Paws for love but keep your nose to the ground for crime.”
-The dog detective
Contents
Cast of Characters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Review Request
About the Author
Other Books by Sandra Baublitz
Cast of Characters
The Sleuths
Clarissa Hayes - Freelance writer, amateur sleuth, loyal friend, and Paw’s owner. She loves the idea of a wedding. Will her sleuthing instincts distract her from the nuptials?
Paudius Pernivious (aka Paw) - Clarissa’s Saint Bernard. He has a nose for trouble, but will he sniff out a clue this time?
Shelbee Van Vight - One of Clarissa’s best friends and a well-loved pet sitter. She’s in charge of planning the wedding. Will she be too distracted by wedding gowns and decorations to solve a mystery?
Samuel -Shelbee’s mastiff. He is always ready to lend a paw. But will he help with the wedding?
Bitsy - Shelbee’s Pomeranian. She’d make a beautiful bride. Can she track a criminal too?
Jacqueline Weldon - Clarissa’s other best friend. She’s volunteered to cater the wedding. While baking the wedding cakes, will she cook up a mystery?
Lillian Hardcastle - Elderly friend to Clarissa. Saber’s owner. She loves helping Jac with the wedding menu. Will she spoon out some justice?
Saber - Lillian’s black cat. He’s always ready to solve a mystery. But a dog wedding? Nope.
Mark Carter - Local reporter. He formerly reported on crime. Will he stop bickering with Lillian to catch a thief?
Uncle Harry - Clarissa’s uncle and Tranquil Valley’s Police Chief.
Alma - Harry’s wife and one smart cookie.
Chief Sikes - Perryville’s Police Chief
Officer Barnes - One of Harry’s officers
The Wedding Party
Mary Jenkins - Shelbee’s client. Owner of Patsy and Dante. She hired Shelbee to arrange the wedding. Is she connected to the mall thefts?
Ellie - Mary’s granddaughter. She insisted that Patsy and Dante should wed.
Patsy - Mary’s Pomeranian. She loves her wedding dress, but is she interested in solving a mystery?
Dante - Mary’s Boxer. He’s the groom, but can he sniff out a crime?
Pammy - Ellie’s Saint Bernard. She’s participating in the wedding. Will she play detective too?
Robert Roberts - Local actor and Clarissa’s friend. He’s officiating the wedding and ready to solve a mystery.
Ellie’s mother and father - They’ve come to town for the wedding. Have they been to the mall too?
Mr. Bascom - Local florist. Does he have any connection to the mall’s thefts?
The Other Suspects
Clay Park - Allison’s father. He’s said no to a dog. Has he said yes to a crime?
Allison Park - Clay’s daughter. She spends her days at the mall, hoping to get a dog. But would she steal to get her heart’s desire?
Celeste - Jogger at the mall. Is jogging the only thing she’s doing in the mall?
Security guard - He’s new to the mall. Could he be hiding a secret?
Store clerks - They stock the stores and run the cash registers. Could one of them be involved?
Chapter 1
“What do you mean we are having a wedding?” I asked in shock.
Bruce and I had moved in together, but we were nowhere near ready to get married. Mark Carter and Jac hadn’t even gone out on a date, and yet, I knew that they were interested in each other. And Shelbee wasn’t dating anyone at present.
“Who is getting married?”
Shelbee grinned. “Patsy and Dante.”
“What?!”
Shelbee laughed. “Mary Jenkins’s dogs. Her Pomeranian and boxer.”
I shook my head. “She is your client, right?”
“Right. And her granddaughter is coming to visit her next week. Her granddaughter insists that the dogs need to be married because they sleep together in the same dog bed.”
I smiled. “And Mary will do anything for her granddaughter.”
“Right again.”
“So why are we arranging the wedding?”
Paw, who had been laying at my feet, chuffed out a sigh.
“Because Mary is finishing up a big project at her work and doesn’t have time to plan it. The granddaughter only came up with this idea yesterday and the family, like I said, is coming next week.”
I sighed. “Well, it’s not much time, and none of us have planned a wedding before.”
“It’s a dog wedding, Clarissa. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate.” Shelbee pulled a pad of paper and a pen from her purse. “I’m sure Jac can bake a cake.
“Will it be suitable for the dogs?”
Shelbee nodded. “She’s planning on baking two. One that the dogs can eat and one that the guests can, although the dog cake, as I understand it, will be edible by the humans as well. We,” she pointed to herself and me, “need to arrange their outfits, the decorations, and the ceremony.”
I giggled. “I don’t think Pastor Matt is going to be willing to marry the dogs.”
“And there you would be wrong,” Shelbee said. “I’ve already spoken to him, and he said he would be delighted to perform the ceremony.”
“Wow. I knew he liked Paw, but I didn’t think he would be willing to do a dog ceremony.”
“He doesn’t have a dog now, but he used to. And doted on it far more than some of my clients.”
“Then what else do we have to arrange for the ceremony?”
“We need a best man and a bridesmaid. Preferably dogs.”
I raised an eyebrow, then looked down at Paw.
“No, I wasn’t thinking of Paw. He could be an ideal best man, but I doubt he would behave. Bitsy and Samuel will perform those roles, but we need to get them outfits and practice with them.”
Paw raised his head and chuffed at Shelbee.
“You know you’re not good at obeying commands,” Shelbee said to him.
He looked up at me.
“Chuff.” Paw lay his head on my foot.
“Ellie, Mary’s granddaughter, wanted a ring bearer too, but Mary dissuaded her from that.”
“Thank goodness. I don’t know where we would’ve gotten another dog to be the ring bearer.”
Shelbee nodded. “She convinced Ellie she could be the flower girl, so we need to get flower petals for her to throw out.”
“I’ll ask Mr. Bascom at the floral shop. I wrote a story about his shop for Mark’s paper, and I’m sure he’ll give me a discount. I’ll see what flowers I can buy that are safe for dogs if they decide to eat them.”
“Good.” Shelbee tapped her pen against her notepad. “Mary’s going to have it in her breezeway. She’s invited a few friends who will sit on either side for the dogs. So, we need to get a few chairs because Mary doesn’t have enough.”
“If you asked Robert, we could borrow them from the theater,” I added.
Shelbee wrote that on her notepad. “What about the outfits.”
I shrugged. “I doubt the theater has any dog-sized outfits, and none of us are good at sewing, except for Lillian, but I don’t want to ask her because I know she’s gotten arthritis in her hands now. The best idea would be to order outfits. I doubt the pet shop in town carries wedding outfits for dogs.”
“They don’t,” Shelbee said with a sigh. “The closest store with that is in the mall at Perryville.”
“Then you and I need to take a drive over there. We can take the dogs with us. Sammy’s big compared to a boxer, but he would do for an idea of the general look, and Bitsy should be about right for the Pom’s outfit.”
Shelbee smiled. “I was hoping you would say that.”
I reached for my phone. Bruce had insisted on buying me a cell phone, and I thought I might as well use it. I turned it on. No signal. Typical for Tranquil Valley. I grabbed the house phone.
“Let me call Mr. Bascom and arrange for the flower petals.” I punched in two numbers, then stopped. “Do you need flower arrangements or a bouquet for the bride?”
Shelbee laughed. “No, we don’t need to go that far for the wedding.”
I nodded. I punched in the rest of the number and waited for Mr. Bascom to answer. “Mr. Bascom, this is Clarissa Hayes. I wonder if I can order some loose flower petals for a flower girl for a wedding.”
“Are you getting married, Clarissa?”
“No.”
I explained the situation.
“Oh, that’s delightful. Hmm. You know that’s a good idea. If more people caught on to the idea, it would expand my business. Tell you what I’ll do, Miss Clarissa. I’ll give you the petals free if you would announce the wedding in the newspaper and that I am providing the flowers.”
“That’s very generous, Mr. Bascom. Let me check that it’s okay with the owner to announce it in the paper, and if not, I will pay for them. I will let you know soon.”
“Oh, I hope the owner agrees. Talk to you later, Miss Clarissa.”
I hung up and explained the situation to Shelbee. She called Mary. As she explained the situation on the phone to her client, I bent over and caressed Paw’s head. “I’m sorry you won’t be in the wedding, boy. You’d make a handsome best man.”
Shelbee hung up. “Mary’s delighted with the idea of the announcement in the newspaper.”
I took the phone from her and dialed Mark. He wasn’t in, so I left a message, but I was sure he would consent to the announcement in the paper. Most likely, he would agree to do it for free, especially if it would help Jac, for I had mentioned that he could note that Jac was making the wedding cake. Perhaps we could start a trend in Tranquil Valley.
Assuming Mark would agree, I called back Mr. Bascom and told him the good news.
Once I hung up, I asked Shelbee, “When do you want to go to Perryville?”
“Are you free tomorrow? I don’t have any clients except for very early morning.”
“Tomorrow will be perfect.”
Chapter 2
Early the following day, Shelbee picked me up for a trip to Perryville to look for dog clothes suitable for the wedding. Paw didn’t like that he had to sit in the backseat with Samuel. He sulked most of the way. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Samuel since Samuel was a good friend, but he was jealous that Bitsy sat in the front seat between Shelbee and me. Usually, Paw sat in the front seat with me, or I would get in the back with him, but today Shelbee and I had plans to discuss. It was easier to sit next to each other in front.
“So, you believe Bitsy is about the same size as Patsy, the bride in this wedding, right?” I asked.
“Yes. If we find an outfit that fits Bitsy, it should fit Patsy. And it’s a good thing that we brought Paw along too. Mary called me last evening and told me that her granddaughter’s dog will be in the wedding as a flower girl and ring bearer.”
Shelbee concentrated on changing lanes.
“I thought Mary had nixed that?” I said.
“She did but relented and made a deal with Ellie. Now, there will be no bridesmaid or best man, just a bride and groom and the flower girl/ring bearer.”
“So I assume the granddaughter’s dog is big like Paw.”
Shelbee absently nodded as she checked her rearview mirror to move over a lane, placing us in the turn lane to the mall.
“Well, Samuel will be standing in for the groom. So what kind of dog is the granddaughter’s that they need Paw as a model?”
Shelbee turned onto the road that led to the mall and said with a laugh, “A St. Bernard.”
“I see.” I laughed. “Then it is a good thing that Paw came along. Is the granddaughter’s St. Bernard a boy or a girl?”
“A girl. And the granddaughter wants her to wear a ‘pretty pink dress,’” Shelbee said as she glanced over at me with a smirk.
I raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, Paw’s going love trying on pink dresses,” I said sarcastically.
As Shelbee crested the hill, I could see across the entire mall complex. It was so large that it had a private road and vast parking. Years ago, you would struggle to find a parking place, even on a weekday. And on holidays, you could spend a couple of hours cruising around the parking lot looking for someone leaving so that you could park. I remember as a teenager coming to this mall every week and spending hours browsing and shopping among all the fascinating things I found.
Unfortunately, in the last few years, many of the stores closed. Some went out of business while others moved to new locations.
Now, I gazed down at stretches of empty parking spots. The mall had tried many innovative things and had added some attractions that had drawn in people, such as the state-of-the-art gym that was situated on the right-hand side of the mall. Shelbee sometimes came here to exercise, and occasionally, Jac joined her. They constantly tried to get me to join them, but so far, I had resisted. Walking Paw was enough exercise for me.
Shelbee drove under the beautifully wrought iron arch that marked the entrance to the mall and headed straight for the center section of the building. To the left, parking spots sat empty, for that side of the building was used for events. Since this was a weekday, there was nothing scheduled. I’d heard the mall had had some modest success holding different venues.
