Veterinarian Carly Martin is a partner in a thriving veterinary practice in a tony area of San Francisco. She serves the pampered pets of the city's elite, but she also makes housecalls to the homebound. One of those calls was to multi-millionaire octagenarian Henry Tremayne, whose ever-changing menagerie of dogs and cats requires constant care.

Through the years, she has developed a relationship with the lonely old man, who lives in an aging mansion with his beloved pets as his faithful companions. When Henry suffers a mysterious fall that lands him in the hospital in a coma, his long-lost grandson, Max Giordano, is named executor of his estate. Max is convinced Carly is the cause of the fall as she will be the recipient of a large amount of cash to set up a foundation to care for abandoned animals. As Max tries to prove Carly is the culprit, he comes to know the gentle vet and falls under the spell of her large and unconventional family. In the end, he learns that family is not just defined by blood, but by love.

Readers will have a warm feeling at the book's satisfying and thrilling conclusion, almost as if they were being licked by a friendly Great Dane. Best of all, the warm feelings can continue because royalties from the sale of the book will go to support the Mercer Veterinary Clinic for the Homeless that provides free veterinary care to the companion animals of the homeless.

TRUST ME by MELANIE CRAFT (Warner Books, November, 373 pp., $5.99) DD

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