Paw of the Jungle

Police officer Megan Luz and her K-9 partner Brigit love to wander the Fort Worth zoo and they set out for a fun field trip. In Paw of the Jungle by Diane Kelly, this casual trip turns into disaster. A pair of rare hyacinth macaws named Fabiana and Fernando goes missing. (Paws of the Jungle will be released om November 26 by St. Martin's Press.)

Worth thousands of dollars, Megan cannot figure out how the birds were stolen. The zoo is secure and it seems almost impossible for the birds to have flown away on their own.  In Megan's mind, this looks like an inside job.

Although her other policing duties take her to different locations, Megan's mind keeps going back to the zoo theft. She spends time sending truant teens back to high school, looking for a shoplifter and issuing speeding tickets. With a host of other duties occupying her time, she finds herself investigating a theft of jewelry from a home that might not be a theft, but her thoughts still drifts back to the zoo theft.

Because the zoo is part of her beat, she heads there with Brigit for a little exercise. As she strolls through the zoo, she realizes how many animals are sought after for their "medicinal" properties. Such a shame, she thinks.

(Interesting fact I learned from this book: dogs are not color blind. Their color range includes yellows and blues and filters out background colors like greens and browns. This enables them to detect movement even in the dark.)

When another bigger, bolder theft occurs, Megan and Brigit know they need to find the stolen animal before it is sold on the Black Market. 

Megan and Brigit are delightful together and they make a extraordinarily caring crime fighting unit. A devious plot with a satisfying conclusion.