A young boy living in the Ozarks achieves his heart's desire when he becomes the owner of two redbone hounds and teaches them to be champion hunters.

"Spencer Quinn speaks two languages--suspense and dog--fluently."--Stephen King Bowser is a dog detective on the loose, paired with an eleven-year-old girl, Birdie. Bowser and Birdie live on the Louisiana coast with Birdie's Grammy. When a prize stuffed marlin is stolen from Grammy's bait and tackle shop, Birdie and Bowser decide to take on the case. But what looks like a straightforward break-in soon becomes as tangled as a tourist's fishing line....

Sassy and Waldo are good dogs, who keep their house safe (from squirrels, mostly), and worry about their boy, Stewart, who always comes home from school smelling of anxiety; so the two dogs come up with a plan to help him--they will dress up in a trench coat and attend school, posing as a new student, to find out just what is bothering Stewart.