Something Prowling in Paradise Park by Kris Bock

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Today on Salty Inspirations, I’m delighted to welcome author Kris Bock back to the blog and introduce a very special guest, Kate Tessler, the amateur sleuth from the humorous mystery Something Prowling in Paradise Park. Kate is here to share a little about what she learned during a recent case in the Accidental Detective Mystery Series.

If you missed Kris’s previous visit to the blog, you can also check out her paranormal mystery Death at Rock Bottom: A Paranormal Mystery by Kris Bock Here

Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy this fun character guest post!

Accidental Detective Kate Tessler on what she learned during a recent case.

I spent 30 years as a war correspondent before I became an amateur private detective. Journalism and detecting have a lot in common. An underdeveloped sense of fear helps when tackling dangerous situations. I’ve been shot at more times in the year and a half I’ve been home than in the previous decade covering wars and natural disasters.

In both fields, it helps to be incurably curious. (Well, it helps you find answers anyway. It may also lead to people pointing guns at you.) I think one reason I’ve been able to transition from journalist to investigator is that I still get to learn about many different things. Recently, my boyfriend’s teen sons asked for help because dogs were disappearing from their neighborhood. “Dognapping” almost sounds comical until you think about the poor owners grieving over their lost pet.

I never had my own pet, since I traveled so much. Now my dad and I have a black and white cat called Harlequin. (Yes, I’m fifty and I live with my father. It was supposed to be temporary while my leg healed after a bombing injury. By the time I accepted that my war correspondent days were over, living with Dad no longer seemed weird. We enjoy each other’s company.)

You can read all about our dognapping case in Something Prowling in Paradise Park to see how it turned out. If you want to protect your own dog, this excerpt shares tips we learned. This is after dinner at my boyfriend Todd’s house, as we did research. Alec and Finn are Todd’s teenage sons, and Whiskers is their giant dog – part mastiff, part Sasquatch, Todd claims.

Alec started. “One source says dog thieves usually want to sell the animals to breeders or people looking for pets. It says most dog thieves, but not what percentage or how they know.”

“Good job catching that,” I said. “They might be guessing. Even the police would only know the reasons if the thieves got caught.”

Todd beamed at Alec. “Look at you, thinking about math on your own time and noticing claims not backed up by data. It’s almost like they’re teaching you stuff at school.”

Alec gave a little eye-roll, but he was smiling. “Anyway, those thefts are usually of what they call high-value breeds. English and French bulldogs. And small breeds that are easy to handle, like terriers and Chihuahuas. Are Chihuahuas worth a lot of money? There are so many of them. My friend’s family has five Chihuahuas. They’re not rich.”

“Dogs don’t need money,” Todd said.

That dad joke got another eye-roll. “The family isn’t rich.”

“I’ll bet it depends if the Chihuahua is purebred or not,” Finn said. “Like those ladies who carry little dogs in their purses. They probably want fancy ones.”

“I guess.” Alec studied his screen. “Sometimes people steal dogs hoping they’ll get a reward for returning them. We could check if anyone who lost a dog got it back that way.”

“Good.” I made a note. “That’s two things we can check, whether the stolen dogs fit that profile, and whether anyone has offered a reward and gotten theirs back. Anything else?”

“Dogs that are spayed or neutered aren’t as valuable, because breeders don’t want them. But it’s hard for the thieves to tell ahead of time. If the thief can’t sell the dog to a breeder, then they might sell it to someone who wants that breed as a pet, or they could return it if the owner offers a reward.”

“So if we find someone who offered a reward and got their dog back, it doesn’t necessarily mean the dog wasn’t stolen in hopes of selling it to a breeder. We need to ask if the dog was fixed.” I caught up on my notes. “Finn?”

“I found an article that lists the dogs stolen most often. Pit bulls and pit bull mixes, Yorkshire terriers, Chihuahuas, French bulldogs, Pomeranians, shih tzus, and German shepherds.”

I had him spell shih tzu for me and typed in the info. “Larger dogs with tough reputations or smaller dogs that might sell for good money. Though backyard breeders probably like to get pit bulls and German shepherds as well, since some people buy those as guard dogs.”

“This article is pretty recent,” Finn said. “And yes, Dad, it’s from a reliable source. It agreed that most dogs are stolen to sell to breeders or to people who want fancy purebreds, but it talked about other reasons too. Sometimes it’s revenge, like a couple divorces or breaks up, and one person gets custody of the dog but the other steals it.”

We all looked at Whiskers again. “We can trust your mom not to take on this monster,” Todd said.

…

“The most important thing is keeping an eye on your dog all the time.” Alec gave Whiskers an affectionate look. “Well, when it’s outside. Like, don’t leave it out unattended, even in the yard. Pay attention when you’re at the dog park. Sometimes people get talking or distracted by their phones. A thief could just pick up a dog like it’s theirs and walk away.”

“Not Whiskers, they couldn’t,” I said.

“Yeah, I’m glad we have a big dog.” Alec patted the dog’s head. “But Whiskers is friendly so he might go with someone, especially if they have treats.”

“If your dog is stolen, watch sales sites for someone posting the dog,” Finn said. “Notify the police, animal shelters, and vets. Put up posters, post pictures on social media, that kind of thing. You can even hire a pet detective.” Finn grinned at me. “I guess you’re a pet detective now.”

“I wonder if they have to have the same licenses as regular detectives.” That actually might be something to look into. It sounded more goofy than glamorous, and we’d add dog bites and cat scratches to the risks we faced when hunting criminals. But if we could investigate missing pets without a PI license, Jen and I could earn some money now while we went through the lengthy PI licensing process. Plus, finding lost or stolen pets was probably safer than dealing with the Russian mob or a human trafficking ring, and Jen and I had done both of those things recently.

Something Prowling in Paradise Park: A Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery (The Accidental Detective Book) by Kris Bock

About Something Prowling in Paradise Park

Something Prowling in Paradise Park: A Kate Tessler Amateur Sleuth Mystery (The Accidental Detective Book) Humorous Mystery 7th in Series Setting – Arizona Publisher : Tule Publishing Publication date : March 2, 2026 Print length : 192 pages ISBN-13 : 978-1969218965 ASIN : B0G32HDV59

Three cases. One body. Zero chance of staying out of trouble. Kate Tessler may have thought her days of chasing danger were over. But the former war correspondent’s “retirement” in sunny Paradise, Arizona, is anything but quiet. With her eccentric circle of friends and colleagues, Kate has built a new life—full of mysteries, mayhem, and the occasional stakeout—as she works towards earning her PI license. After wrapping her last case, Kate wonders what’s next when three cases—all brought by friends—fall into her lap. Squatters in a snowbird’s house, local pedigree dogs disappearing, and smash and grab burglaries at local pot shops. Kate juggles the cases with help from her usual cast of amateur crime solvers, including the teen sons of Paradise’s mayor. As she digs, Kate suspects at least two cases are connected. But things turn deadly when a late-night stakeout leads Kate and one teen sidekick, interested in investigative work, straight to a body. Was it a gruesome accident—or something far more sinister? With humor and high stakes, The Accidental Detective mysteries prove that danger and friendship don’t retire quietly.

About Kris Bock

Kris Bock writes mystery, suspense, and romance, often with smart, snarky heroines finding adventure (sometimes against their will) in the Southwest. She lives in New Mexico, where she enjoys hiking with her spouse and playing with their ferrets.

In the Reluctant Psychic Mystery series, a quirky loner who can read the history of any object with her touch gets drawn into mysteries at the museum of oddities where she works. In the Accidental Detective humorous mystery series, a witty journalist solves mysteries in Arizona and tackles the challenges of turning fifty. Kris’s romantic suspense novels include treasure hunting, archaeology, and intrigue. Readers have called these novels “Smart romance with an Indiana Jones feel.” She is also the author of the Furrever Friends Sweet Romance series and the Accidental Billionaire Cowboys series.

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Thank you to Kris Bock for visiting Salty Inspirations today and sharing this fun look into Kate Tessler’s latest case! If you enjoy humorous cozy mysteries with clever sleuthing and engaging characters, be sure to add Something Prowling in Paradise Park to your TBR.

Feel free to browse the blog for more author interviews, book spotlights, and cozy reader inspiration while you’re here.

As always, thanks for stopping by for some Salty Inspirations! —Michelle❤️