Books like The Hard Way by Carol Lea Benjamin

A devoted dog reflects on life, love, and racing while watching his owner, a race car driver, navigate family trials and professional ambition.

Buddy, the beloved Labrador from *A Dog’s Purpose*, returns to guide a troubled teenage girl, Clarity June Mahoney, on a heartwarming journey of growth and companionship.

"I very much need to be dead." These are the chilling last words left by a man who had everything to live for but took his own life. In the void that remains stands his widow, FBI agent Jane Hawk, surrounded by questions destined to go unanswered unless she does what all the grief and fury inside her demand: Find the truth, no matter what. People of talent and accomplishment, people seemingly happy and sound of mind, have recently been committing suicide in surprising numbers. A disturbing pattern is beginning to emerge. Jane is determined to give up everything to find out why. And if that means going rogue and becoming America's Most Wanted, then so be it. Those arrayed against her are legion, and devoted to protecting something profoundly important-or terrifying-enough to exterminate any and all in their way. But Jane is as clever as these enemies are cold-blooded, as relentless as they are ruthless. And she is driven by a righteous rage they can never comprehend. Because it is born of love.

PI Rachel Alexander tackles a hit‑and‑run in New York’s Greenwich Village, with her intuition‑sharp pit bull Dash as her aid. The victim: a gay painter; suspects include art thieves and dog‑fancying rivals.

A teacher with epilepsy struggles without her service dog Blanche, but a cloning scheme goes awry, leading to a mysterious disappearance and a deadly investigation led by private investigator Rachel Alexander and her pit‑bull partner Dash.

When therapy dog Lady vanishes and the owner of Harbor View is killed, pit bull detective Dash and her owner Rachel Alexander team up to uncover a sinister crime and protect the vulnerable residents of the Greenwich Village home.

Private investigator Rachel Alexander and her pit bull Dashiell tackle a grim New York mystery where a vanished wife’s daughter, suddenly mute, may have killed her neurologist mother’s doctor.

Detective duo Juliet Applebaum and Al Hockey run a Los Angeles garage office, taking on celebrity protection, insurance disputes, and a haunting murder that forces Juliet to go undercover as a trans woman.