In THE NIGHT WOODS, the latest installment in Paula Munier’s mystery series, Mercy Carr and her husband, Troy, have settled into their new historic home, Grackle Tree Farm, and are awaiting the birth of their first child. Mercy is restless, and as her delivery date nears, she worries more and more about being a mother. Will a baby change her? Will she be unable to continue working and solving murders? Will she be a decent mother? Will her baby be a dainty feminine girl with whom she will have nothing in common? (She's hoping for a boy.)

Hiking in the woods with her dog Elvis, a former military K9, Mercy goes to visit a new friend, a hermit named Homer. They play Scrabble together, and while he lives far off the grid, his skill with words is prodigious. Elvis also likes to play with his huge bloodhound, Argos. But when she arrives at his cabin, there is a murdered man inside and no sign of Homer. Elvis manages to find an injured Homer, and Mercy ingeniously creates a travois to get him to safety.

"It's obvious that Paula Munier, like other mystery authors who love their dogs (think David Rosenfelt and Spencer Quinn), enjoys writing about her canine pals. And we love reading about them."

The mystery deepens when a local billionaire disappears during a hunt he hosted on his huge property for other one-percenters. And when Troy, who is the local game warden, is out with his search-and-rescue dog, Susie Bear, and they stumble across the naked body of a man in a flooded creek, the murder count quickly doubles. The crimes seem unconnected. What could a billionaire and a visitor to a hermit have in common? But as fans of Munier know, she is supremely capable of throwing spaghetti at the ceiling and not only having some stick up there, but braiding it en route. The more messy facts and mysterious matters there are, the more Munier will confound us with myriad suspects and many possible motives.

The trail that Mercy follows will lead back to her days as an MP in Afghanistan and bring back bitter memories. There's some serious trauma that those returning from war zones face, and Munier reminds us of what the soldiers not only endure, but suffer when they try to resume a "normal" life. In fact, “The Odyssey,” the story by the Greek poet Homer, is one of the central topics in this novel because it’s about a soldier, Odysseus, coming home after his decades of travel and discovering that homecomings are not always what they should be. Too often, returning soldiers learn that sad fact in heartbreaking ways.

As Mercy plods along, worrying about false labor and premature contractions, trying to solve the murders and absolve Homer, we are afforded a real sense of who she is --- her strengths, her loyalty and her insecurities. And, dare I say, we like her better for all those very human traits, including her frailties and worries. There are many things to appreciate about this series, and the abundance of dogs is one of them. There's also a rescue cat for those who like furry felines, but Elvis, Susie Bear and Argos are delightful. And one of the murder victims leaves behind a Vizsla that must be cared for and rehomed.

It's obvious that Paula Munier, like other mystery authors who love their dogs (think David Rosenfelt and Spencer Quinn), enjoys writing about her canine pals. And we love reading about them.