Serena Oakley is hiding. However, she's not hiding for the reasons undercover investigator Nick Whalen thinks she is. After being in Australia for two years, Nick doesn't recognize the chocolate-dipped body with which most of America's red-blooded males dream of becoming more familiar.

After her time as a model and dealing with personal traumas, Serena just wants to run Paws-A-While for pampered pooches. With a prop purse-dog in tow, Nick is having a hard time adjusting to the world of the indulged canine and refuses to be seen as a dog's "dad." Nick is on the scent of an identity theft scam, and he needs to know everything Serena's been hiding; meanwhile, Serena has a strong aversion to police officers or any take-charge men who might try to burst the fragile bubble of normalcy she's built with her animal daycare.

However, between the feelings attempting to scale their mutual distrust, a fluffy Yorkie-poo named Bessie and a down-on-his-luck man's dog named Mack (not for the truck, but for his love of fast-food), Nick and Serena discover that trust isn't for the dogs.

HOME IS WHERE THE BARK IS is a well-written light mystery with plenty of animal descriptions for animal-lovers.