On a blustery day in late fall, Hank sneaks into the back of Slim's pickup and finds himself at a neighboring rancher's fall branding...the very neighbor, in fact, who owns the gorgeous Miss Scamper the Beagle! Unfortunately, Miss Scamper has always been a little hard to figure out, and he can't decide if she's crazy about him...or just plain crazy. And, as the day unfolds, it even begins to look like she's angling to land him in a heap of trouble...

When an odd turn of events brings a parrot to the ranch, Hank ignores the mimicking bird and struggles to keep up with Sally May and Loper's persistent requests to bark louder and dig up the flowers.

Of all the mysteries Hank has faced in his illustrious career as the Head of Ranch Security, the only one that still has him truly stumped is the key to unlocking Miss Beulah's heart. Why on earth would she go for a bird-brained bird dog when a specimen like Hank stands ready to sweep her off her feet? Could there be more to this problem than meets the eye? When Plato wanders off Billy's ranch and Beulah discovers he's lost, she tries to enlist Hank's...

Slim rescues an orphan raccoon, and much to Hank's dismay, everyone on the ranch is enchanted with the "cute" baby coon with the beady little eyes and amazing little hands. Yet, little do they know that every time midnight rolls around, Eddy the Rac is seized with uncontrollable fits and it's Hank's responsibility to guard the crafty masked bandit every moment! Soon Hank finds himself teaming up with Eddy to liberate the poor "singing" cookies.

Wonder if cattle rustlers still exist? Well, they do. Hank and Slim go on a camping trip to see if they can catch the mysterious stranger who is stealing calves. Hank devours all of Slim's camp meat (weenies) and chews the tent rope in half during a thunderstorm. Slim gets soaked, but fortunately he never figures out why the rope broke.

It's winter in the Texas Panhandle, and the ranch is covered in snow and ice. Hank decides to follow Pete the Barncat's advice and bravely escorts Sally May's car down the slick road. Before Hank realizes what's happening, Sally May's car skids into a snowdrift-and she is angrier than ever! And who does she blame but Hank! Is this just another stroke of bad luck for poor old Hank-or is it a malicious plot laid by his arch nemesis, Pete?

Happy the Lab is back on the ranch, and it looks like he's up to his usual good-natured, bumbling ways! And, it just so happens that he has wandered onto Hank's ranch on a particularly exciting day: rain has finally come to their drought-stricken land, and — what's even more exciting — radio reports claim that there's a mountain lion on the prowl in their area! As the day unfolds, it appears that the mountain lion report was bogus, which is a...

Hank the Cowdog has seen dry summers in his years as the Head of Ranch Security, but nobody on the ranch has seen a drought like this. Ponds have dried up, the creek is down to a trickle, pastures have turned to burned toast, and the cows are kicking up clouds of dust. Then, to top it all off, Pete the Barncat hatches a dastardly plot to ruin Loper's birthday! The last thing the cowboys need is a prairie fire, but that's what they get, and it begins...

This is no ordinary, run-of-the-mill ranch intrigue. No sir, this is a real, honest-to-goodness archaeological adventure! When an old friend of Slim's starts an archaeological dig near the ranch, it doesn't take long before little Alfred gets caught up in the excitement. And once Alfred manages to get himself invited to the dig, it isn't long before Hank follows. Hank finds himself face-to-face with the most ancient of bones-a huge bison bone that...

Who - or what - has been killing the chickens? And, more importantly, what is Ranch Security going to do about it? These are the critical questions in the sixth adventure of Hank the Cowdog. A fiendish murderer is loose on the ranch, and never before has Hank followed so many clues or interrogated more suspects. Every character in the book turns out to be a suspect - including Hank himself. Can he solve the crime and prove his innocence before he...