After a water-rights standoff in Nevada escalates into murder and Mags Rogers' great-aunt, Jeep, becomes a prime suspect, it is up to Mags; her wire-haired dachshund, Baxter; and Jeep's German Shepherd mix, King, to sniff out the real killer.

A doctoral candidate becomes skeptical of the police report and investigates after her mentor at the biology department kills herself in the face of an academic dispute.

When her teenage son and other kids are imprisoned for misdemeanors, a woman hires private investigator Spenser to find the truth behind a corrupt judge's unusually hard sentencing practices for minors.