A bloody tale

by Carola

A while ago, my dog Trillian's best friend, Oli, came to stay for a week or two. Like most dogs, one of the games they both enjoy is running along a fence barking at a dog on the other side of the fence who is running and barking back.

Trillian watering a tree on the school field

I'm lucky enough to live next door to a school field where dogs are allowed after school hours. Like mine, my next-door neighbour's house backs onto the field. He has two bloodhounds and two mini yappers. When they're out in the yard, it's practically impossible to get Trillian and Oli away from that fence. They'll come away but always rush back for another session. Oh well, it's exercising them!

Oli giving me a kiss on the school field

Another neighbour with one dog, Stella, also shares a fence with the field. She's older and not so much fun, but occasionally they have a "run-in". Unfortunately, Stella's fence doesn't reach the ground in some places. Stella's mom puts boards to block the gaps, but sometimes the boards fall over or get nudged out of position.

One of the run-ins with Stella got out of hand. Oli stuck his  head under the fence, and Stella removed a piece of his ear. Blood started to well. Oli shook himself and blood spattered all over him. Stella's mom brought a bucket of cold water to the gate to wash him off and--we hoped--stanch the flow, but by then it was more flood than drip. A second bucket didn't help. By then there was a puddle of blood in the gateway to the school field... (As a mystery writer, I started plotting!)

So I headed for home with Trillian completely unconcerned and Oli respattering himself as we walked. He looked awful. A young girl walking down the street saw him and asked in horror, "Is that blood?"

Another bucket of water at home. Oli still bleeding freely but not apparently in pain. He wasn't allowed in the house, of course, and by bedtime he was still bleeding, so the poor boy had to spend the night in the garage. I should add that by that time there was no danger of his bleeding to death.

Luckily there was time enough for it to heal before his parents came home. I just had to explain why he had a notch in his ear...

Now I keep styptic powder in the garage, readily to hand for emergencies.

Yes, Oli is one of my faithful readers...

That revision letter...

That revision letter is my excuse--no time for blogging once again. My editor is quite right, I have to rewrite the last chapter.

So I'm going to post a link to an article I wrote for an online magazine:

http://kingsriverlife.com/08/30/trillian-an-animal-rescue-adventure/

The only thing it has to do with writing is that I wrote it. 

Enjoy!

Carola

Daisy in Polish

by Carola

My Daisy Dalrymple mysteries are now coming out in Poland. The Polish publisher bought the translation rights to the first 10, and I gather they're putting out one a week. This is the cover of the first, Death at Wentwater Court:

Cute and eye-catching, if somewhat inaccurate as far as the story's concerned. Very different from the original cover:

and the large print:













Not to mention the equally cartoonish US paperback:

and the UK edition:

Or the audio and two German editions each with different artwork!
They're calling the series Daisy D. I wonder if Dalrymple is impossible for Polish-speakers to pronounce.

There seems to be a boxed set of all 10. I'm not sure exactly how this works. Perhaps readers can buy the box along with one book and fill it as they come out? Or perhaps once all of them are out, they'll start selling the boxed set already filled. This box has the cover of the second in the series, The Winter Garden Mystery.

The spines of the volumes are very clever, producing a cat that strongly reminds me of the Pink Panther, which also adorns all three front covers that I've seen. Here's the third, Requiem for a Mezzo:

Interesting--especially as I can't remember ever writing about a cat in any of the Daisy books. There may be a casual mention somewhere in the 21 I've written to date, but I'm a dog-person and so is Daisy! Her stepdaughter's dog, Nana, appears in several of the books, finding a body in one and digging up a Clue in another, only to run away with it and rebury it. Nana even graces one cover:

I'd never actually described her appearance in detail, so now the artist has defined her.

With the help of friends and relatives, I've managed to put a welcome message in Polish on my website. A couple of days later I got more than twice as many hits than ever before--though I can't tell whether there were a lot of Poles!

While on the subject of cover art, I'm thrilled that the artist who's done so many great covers for Daisy (including Black Ship, above, but not Wentwater Court) is passing through town today and we're hoping to arrange to meet. I'm trying to decide which is my favourite, in case he asks.