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Literature: Dogsbody

A novel by Diana Wynne Jones. The guiding spirit of the star Sirius is framed for a murder and sentenced to reincarnation on Earth in the form of a dog, unless he can come up with the murder weapon (which also happens to be a very powerful MacGuffin).

Tropes featured include:

A Girl And Her X: Kathleen and Sirius - at least from her perspective.
Abusive Parents: Duffy - not actually parents; Kathleen is staying with her Aunt and Uncle.
Amplified Animal Aptitude: Sirius can understand alot more english than most animals. Justified since he's not really a dog.
Baleful Polymorph: Sirius as a dog.
Bitter Sweet Ending: See Death by Newbery Medal, below. Sirius achieves his goals and he finds a better home for Kathleen, but the two are separated, possibly forever.
Cats Are Mean: Starts off this way, but they do mellow out part way through the story.
Cool Old Lady: Mrs. Smith
Death by Newbery Medal: Sirius (again, from Kathleen's perspective—he actually becomes a star again, but he leaves behind his dog-body as a corpse and it's clear that she thinks of him as dead).
Evil Matriarch: Duffy
Friend to All Living Things: Kathleen
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kathleen's cousins.
MacGuffin: The Zoi.
Orphan's Ordeal: Kathleen's story, especially after her father dies because of his escape from prison.
The Troubles: Kathleen's father is an imprisoned member of the IRA.
The Wild Hunt: Sirius in his dog incarnation turns out to be related to them.