Septuagenarian sleuth Tish McWhinny investigates the theft of an old painting she restored, and how it was connected to the murder of her friend's godson
Widowed painter Tish would not refurbish a painting for just anyone. But her octogenarian gentleman friend Hilary asks it as a favor--it's to help his feckless but charming godson Bruce with his new business. Soon there's a dead body, several copies of the same picture, one signed by the famous painter Landseer, and a lot of dogs, with their accompanying and rather strange people, littering the Vermont landscape.