The Origin of Evil — Ellery Queen

Ellery Queen visits Hollywood, and looks into a nasty prank that sent a man to his grave . . .

Ellery Queen stands naked by the window, sipping rum from a frosted glass, a corpse at his feet. The deceased is Hollywood, and the cause of death is clear: television. Queen has come to Los Angeles in search of a plot for his latest mystery, but the moribund movie business offers nothing more than nostalgia for better days. He's about to give up and go home when a pretty girl appears and offers a mystery far stranger than anything a filmmaker has ever produced.
 
The woman's name is Laurel, and her father has been murdered by a dead dog. The canine was sent as a gift -- 1 in a series of vile, cryptic packages -- and it scared her father to death. The deceased pet is the most peculiar murder weapon Queen has ever come across, and unless he's quick, this story will not have a Hollywood ending.