The Provost's Dog (aka The Beka Cooper Series): Terrier by Tamora Pierce

Tamora Pierce is back with a not so new heroine.

Meet Rebakah Cooper ancestor of George Cooper. Beka is a 16 year old girl training to be a Dog, the nickname given to the Provost's Guards who act as the police if their time. Currently at Puppy level, Beka and the other Puppies of her litter (class) are assigned a team to observe. Beka's team, Tunstall and Goodwin, are the top dogs of the moment. As Beka makes her rounds with the team she is faced with two mysteries.

The first the child murders and kidnappings performed by the "Shadow Snake". The Shadow Snake has been terrorizing the people of the Lower City for 3 years by demanding the treasures a family holds dearly. If the family refuses to pay their child is taken and either killed or is sold as a slave.

The second is the killings of the night diggers. Beja hear this from her crows and the dust spinners in the area. The Night Diggers are people who are secretly asked to work as diggers, when their job is done they are either murdered by force or poisoned.

Beka believes that these two crimes are connceted somehow. Is the Shadow Snake and the person Hiring the Night Diggers one and the same or is it something or someone more sinister than the two put together? Beka and the Dogs most figure this out before the two strike again.

I've been a Tamora Pierce fan since last spring when I finished reading Alanna: the First Adventure. Her books are fun and empowering. And after reading Terrier I was blown away again by the sheer adventurousness (Is that even a word?) of her storytelling. Beka and her friends are my absolute favorite characters out of all her books. I hard time believing in her timidness because she seems so fierce in what she wants to accomplish. She definitely gives Alanna a run for she money. I wonder what it'd be like if they ever met face to face.