Greetings From An English Cocker Blogger -- and Her Faithful Scribe

Lucy and Susan. It's a terrible picture of me, but good of her.

Happy Sunday. Thanks to Pat Browning who introduced me to the Murderous Musings crowd two weeks ago, and to all my fellow/sister MM bloggers who made me feel so welcome. This is my very first blog posting. Ever. In my entire life. It's about time I got myself into the 21st century, right? So here I go.

I figured that since my "official" MM photo shows me with two dogs (I'm the one in the middle, in case you were wondering), my first blog post should tell everybody about them. I'm sharing the family room sofa with Tucker and Lucy, both English cocker spaniels. The important words here are "English cockers," not to be confused with their more "common" American relatives. (I hope I'm not offending anyone by saying that.)

Anyway, when I got the idea for the Baby Boomer mysteries, Lucy got the idea that she should be in them. And she pestered and pestered me until I finally gave in. She is extremely persistent. But no way was she sharing the limelight with another "real" dog. Not that girl. She demanded a fictitious sidekick, so what could I do but come up with the name "Ethel"? It seemed to fit somehow, like peanut butter and jelly. Fred and Ginger. Salt and pepper. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea.

Somehow, she managed to convince the book designer that her photo belonged on the back of the book jacket. So, there she is. (I wonder who her agent is?) I got a big kick out of the Sisters in Crime list this week because there were a lot of posts about how important it is for a female author to have her photo on the book jacket. I'm not sure if Lucy would go for that, but the second book is in production now and I'm just going to add my photo and not tell her.

For Christmas, Lucy wants a stamp of her paw print made for me to take to book signings when she can't attend. Apparently her fans have suggested it. I do a lot of book signings on the dog show circuit, and she started her own fan club when I wasn't looking. Could Facebook and Twitter be far behind?