A Penny Earned - Murder Mutts mysteries, #1

1950s WYOMING. AN OHIO PRIVATE EYE. A FRIEND'S MURDER. Private investigator Heebs Kelly, a breezy young WWII veteran, arrives in Cheyenne expecting to go into business with an Army buddy, not find him brutally murdered at his desk. The police are eager to write off attorney Paul Richardson's homicide as the work of a passing vagrant - or as proof the victim was mixed up in something shady. His grief stricken family beg Heebs to find the killer and clear Paul's name. Soon Heebs and the little white dog he rescued from coyotes start stepping on the toes of influential people and threaten secrets people want to keep buried.
A pair of thugs jump him outside a bar to deliver the message he should stop asking questions. They make the painful discovery their would-be prey is tougher than his friendly manner and missing hand would suggest. Handicapped by his newcomer status, Heebs nonetheless starts to find hints of corruption that reaches across the state, and maybe beyond. When another murder occurs, he faces an additional challenge - keeping a supremely annoying petty thief  alive long enough to cough up information that may or may not prove useful. Aided by his Mexican secretary, a woman doctor, and a prickly landlady whose allure he can't explain, Heebs picks out a trail that leads to a stunning connection.
In an unfamiliar city, unsure whom to trust, he risks his life to expose the truth and exact justice for a friend.