Almost Human — Lillian M. Roberts

To Palm Springs veterinarian Andi Pauling, life is a precious commodity. That's why she is astonished when Gilda Hopkins makes an impassioned--and controversial--request. Gilda, dying painfully of cancer, asks Andi to kill her. But before Andi can recover from the shock, Gilda breathes her last.

Then Gilda's grown daughter suddenly accuses Andi of murder, forcing Andi to scramble for the truth. Striving to uphold her reputation, Andi soon confronts menace from a devious newspaperman, the distrust of her patients and staff, and a violent threat that could leave her stranded out in the desert with only the vultures for company. . . .