Hangman's root

"Fur is flying in Pecan Springs, Texas, as lawyer-turned-herbalist China Bayles finds herself snarled in a deadly animal rights dispute. Dottie Riddle, biology professor at Central Texas State University and the notorious Cat Lady of Pecan Springs, runs the ritziest cat rescue operation in Texas. But Dottie's generous concern for strays has earned her the hatred of neighbor and fellow biology professor Miles Harwick, and her active opposition to the biology department's animal experimentation program has brought her more academic enemies than she can count. So when Harwick is found dead with his neck in a noose, police chief Bubba Harris charges Dottie with murder. Dottie assures her good friend China Bayles that, although she hated the man, she is not a killer. As China begins to unravel the knotted threads of the dead man's life, she discovers that Dottie isn't the only one who may have wanted him dead."--Barnesandnoble.com.