A Pug's Tale

Pace's cute sequel to Pug Hill sends pug-lover Hope McNeill into a madcap search for an art thief. The two great loves of Hope's life are her job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and her boyfriend's pug, Max. So when the Met hosts a pug-themed gala in honor of a wealthy donor, the event seems tailor-made for Hope%E2%80%94until Max causes a scene and Hope has to rush him into her office, where they discover that a valuable painting has been stolen and replaced with a fake. Museum brass tell Hope they're not involving the police, but Hope wants to help recover the painting however she can, especially since she's a possible suspect. As she puzzles out the clues, help comes from unexpected places%E2%80%94an heiress and fellow pug enthusiast, a private investigator, and Max, whose intuition and problem-solving skills are pretty remarkable for a pug. Though a sharp reader might spot the culprit a mile away, and readers' enjoyment of the story will be directly proportional to how much they love pugs, Pace has concocted a charming mystery-lite with abundant personality. (June)