Dogged Pursuit

Gold Medal winner in the 2023 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest in the Fiction-Animals genre! 18th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist. The debut book in the Veronica Kildare K-9 Mystery series opens with escalating suspense and intensifies into a resilient fight for survival. With its engaging combination of canine and human personalities, thrilling plot, and gorgeous Colorado backdrop, "Dogged Pursuit" will appeal to dog lovers, outdoors enthusiasts, and mystery lovers alike.

Veronica Kildare cannot believe her luck – being shot at, again, by the bad guys. The sound, the feel of the bullet, and the hatred resonate for more than just the transitory moment of impact. She has relocated to a new state, but brutality has rampaged into this life as well.

As the survivor of a senseless act of violence in her former life, Veronica struggles to recover from the lingering physical and emotional scars by working as a dog handler near Boulder, Colorado. Empowered by her intense bond with her search and rescue and drug detection dog, Leda, she finally begins to shake off the pain of her past. Then Veronica is drawn into the puzzling search for a scientist who has vanished near Rocky Mountain National Park. Dr. Randy Jeffers has inexplicably disappeared on the eve of his testimony in the high profile murder trial of a pro basketball player and the police are baffled.

As Veronica and Leda traverse rugged Roosevelt National Forest in a desperate search testing the limits of their abilities, it is not initially clear who has targeted Dr. Jeffers, or why. But it becomes shockingly obvious that someone will stop at nothing to silence him forever. The kidnappers with murder on their mind have guns, but Veronica has Leda and her own blossoming resilience as her weapons in their struggle for survival.