THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY will take your breath away. Brandt, on the other hand, is so low key that drying paint makes the ten o'clock news. The only thing that brought Gabe Chance back to his hometown was the death of his mother. After he wraps up her affairs he's heading straight back to the cool California coast and leaving drought-stricken Brandt in his rearview mirror. Some things are easier said than done. The estate she left him is surprisingly rich for the widow of a salesman. But, then again, he's been gone for a decade or two and hasn't been keeping up very well. Just as surprising are the long, strong strings she wrapped around it to keep him here. Mother's dog is now his dog: shaggy, sheddy, boisterous and irritating. If he wants the estate he has to keep the dog. In Brandt. In Mother's house. Bummer times 3. Before the ink can even dry on her death certificate, an old girlfriend's husband dies in a tragic and violent accident. Steeped in denial, she refuses to accept that it was an accident. She asks him to "go take a look." Gabe takes that look and man and dog become unlikely allies in unraveling a mystery of ancient Spanish treasures, unknown fortunes, and villains who make Dumb and Dumber seem like Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein. The Dog Did It is set in the Hill Country between Austin and San Antonio.