They're two of my favorite things. And when they're together, in one package, I love it. It's so much fun to write my Baby Boomer mysteries and add "dialogue" from my two English Cocker co-stars, Lucy and Ethel. Of course, Lucy is a real dog and Ethel isn't. But Ethel's real enough in my mind and Lucy doesn't want any other canines at our joint book signings to cramp her style.
The highlight of this past week in our house was the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. This is the biggest, most prestigious event in "dogdom," and our breeder, Lynn Pray of Pineridge English Cockers was showing one of her champion dogs, Chance. Our whole family really got into it, especially our one-year-old pup Boomer, as you can see from this picture. By the way, that's a Springer on the t.v. screen, not an English Cocker.
So, do you like mysteries with dogs in them? Who are some of your favorites?
4 comments:
My favorite is Dean Koontz's dog, Einstein, in his novel, The Watchers. Einstein communicates with his owner by rearranging Scrabble letters. I also have dogs in my mystery novels. Bert, a retired police dog inhabits my novel, Diary of Murder, and Miranda, an Australian Sheppard, who chews furniture, is featured in my children's book, Mystery of Spider Mountain.
Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie series is the best! Chet (the dog) is the narrator, Bernie's the PI, and they solve mysteries as a team.
I don't guess it's any secret that I'm a huge dog lover.
Among my favorites in the mystery/thriller field are Dean Koontz's books and David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter books. Carpenter has a golden retriever rescue.
I gave two of my dogs to my private detective. His elderly Akita, Queenie, is based on our dog Kiri, who died at 15. The little papillon he inherited and doesn't know what to do with is based on Luca (aka, His Lordship of Eternal Cuteness, Light of a Thousand Suns). I thought it would be interesting to saddle this macho PI with a dog he would never have chosen on his own but which will weasel its way into his heart.
Of course, growing up, I gave my heart to Buck (from Call of the Wild), Lassie-Come-Home, Old Yeller, Savage Sam, and Big Red.
I just started my third Cornish mystery with:
"Yip?" said Teazle hopefully.
Teazle doesn't try to be anything but a dog. Spencer Quinn's Chet is the only fictional dog with mystery solving capabilities that I can actually believe in--he's so quintessentially DOG! Daisy's dog Nana has helped, but only by finding a body or a clue. She's been known to dig up a clue and bury it again...
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