Finding a dead young woman isn't how Anna expected to start her day, and to make matters worse, she knew the dead girl. There's no doubt that she was killed. Two other lady dog- walkers come to Anna's aid, Tansy and Isadora. The police get investigations under way, and warn Anna that this is the third woman to be killed in Oxford recently. Perhaps walking with a large rescue dog is all that kept Anna from becoming the victim.

We learn that Anna had a tragic past which she would prefer to forget. Her only remaining family is her grandfather, comfortable in a care home. She shares her story with him and finds a phone message from Naomi, the dead woman, who was a researcher. Naomi claimed that she had found something intriguing - shortly afterwards, she was dead. Coincidence? Anna doesn't think so.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the large, well- behaved dog, and how Anna manages her despite not having dog-owning experience. Working as an administrator in Oxford's venerable Walsingham College, Anna shows us the academic life. Actually, she shows around a visiting American, Jake, who has made a career with the US Navy and was once Bonnie's owner. But it's with the other two women that Anna really shares her experiences and her private conviction that Naomi's killer wasn't the serial murderer, as Thames Valley Police understandably believe.

The Oxford setting will be familiar to fans of Inspector Morse, and while this book is modern with e-mails and smartphones, some aspects of the beautiful historic city and colleges are unchanging, and familiar places include Jericho and Woodstock. The celebrated modern poets and receptions seem part of the picture, but each step takes us further along a trail of danger and damaged lives. THE WHITE SHEPHERD by Annie Dalton, who is English and has written children's fiction, is a worthy addition to my British crime fiction bookshelf.

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