Nala and Max are back, this time based in New Albany to substitute for her friend, Regina, who teaches creative writing at the university, while Regina attends a conference in London. It doesn’t take long for the students to draw Nala into a missing-friend case, all while she tries to determine just what a dashing British visiting professor’s intentions are toward Regina: does he want to steal her academic research, or is he genuinely interested in her as a romantic partner?

The missing girl, Ashlee, was abducted from an allegedly-haunted house frequented by thrill-seeking teens, and Nala finds evidence she was there with a troublemaker she’d dated a single time. However, there are no other physical clues, and Tawnee, the friend who recruited Nala, calls in the powers of her psychic aunt. Despite her doubts about talking to ghosts, Aunt Belinda actually provides a useful clue, and Max’s canine-to-canine intervention might provide Nala the tip needed to rescue Ashlee.

In the meantime, why is that charming visiting professor cleaning up rodents in Regina’s office and asking Nala to lunch? Is he interested in her, or just seeking another route to nab research?

MK Scott has produced a fourth great Talking Dog Detective Agency mystery, just in time for the spookiest season of the year.