Tag Archive for: dogs

Summer Is Perfect for Shorts!

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 by Sparkle Abbey

Here in the Midwest we’re finally seeing some regular summer weather but most of this summer has been hot, hot hot!

So no matter what your style vibe is, it’s truly been the perfect weather for shorts. 

We’re probably apt to flash a little less leg in our choices. 

Mostly because after a year of going nowhere and working inside, we not only don’t have any tan lines – we don’t have any tans at all. 

Caro and Mel, the heroines in our Pampered Pets mystery series would undoubtedly be much more daring And, after all, they do live in Laguna Beach. 

So, we’re thinking they’d have great stylish choices in shorts. 

How about you? Do you wear shorts? 

And, if so, what’s your favorite style? 

And by the way, since we’re talking short, summer is also the perfect time for short reads. We’ve been reading some of the award nominated shorts stories. Something quick for the deck or the beach or even for a road trip. So, we’re loving great novellas and short stories! And we’ve also just released our very first short – PROJECT DOGWAY. 

Here’s a little bit about it. 
Canines are on the “catwalk” at this Laguna Beach dog fashion show—a heartworm awareness fundraiser—where former Texas beauty queen and currently-not-speaking-to-each-other cousins, Caro and Mel, are in attendance. When award-winning show beagle, Shadow’s, owner drops dead from eating a deadly scallop ceviche, the cousins find themselves embroiled in much more than a fashion “faux paw.”
Project Dogway is available on all ebook platforms: 

Watch for our next short, coming soon! Any guesses on what Caro and Met will be up to next? 

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don’t tell the other neighbors.) 

They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook,and Twitter their favorite social media sites. 

Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website.

Highway to Friendship

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By Sparkle Abbey
We love to travel. Whether it’s just the two of us, with our critique group, or with our husbands, we love the adventure that lies ahead.  We’ve traveled together by plane and car. We’ve been to Illinois, New York, California, Washington DC, Michigan (on accident), Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, Florida, and Texas to name just a few states. We’ve hopped in the car for book signings, writing conferences, for personal vacations, and even a couple spur-of-the-moment road trips to work out plot problems.
Not only does our traveling together strengthen our relationship, it strengthens our writing. We’ve explored cozy small towns and bustling metropolitan areas, soaking in the cultures, smells, sounds, and rhythm of the people to color our stories with relatable details and memorable characters inspired by real life.
We’ve brainstormed our best titles on an airplane—Fifty Shades of Greyhound and The Girl with the Dachshund Tattoo. We’ve stuffed 300 individual dog treats into tiny cellophane bags for conference giveaways, created detailed marketing plans, all while jotting down notes on the conversations we’ve “accidentally” overheard during a lunch stop at the Cracker Barrel, (they have the best restrooms). For us, travel inspires creativity and helps us focus. We especially love it when we have those famous “ah-ha moments.”

When traveling with someone for twenty years (yes, that means we started traveling together since we were twelve), you not only can you finish each other’s sentences, but you can communicate an entire conversation with a single look. You know each other’s entire routine before bed, how they like their coffee in the morning, and when they’re ready for morning conversation—no real talking before the first cup of coffee. You each know when the other needs their downtime or just a trip to Starbucks.
Traveling with a best friend, you know you’ll find adventure. Swimming at midnight. Dinner with an Elvis impersonator. A Rod Stewart sighting. Nonstop talking to the point you’ve lost your voices. And best of all, permission to act silly. Never judgment, just someone you trust to join in on the fun!
Now we’re planning to take a cruise together with our husbands. Who knows what mischief we’ll cook up on a ship?  We can’t wait to find out!

What about you? Do you have someone you enjoy traveling with? What do you like about traveling together?

We also have some exciting news to share! Book 10, The Dogfather, will make its debut September 21st!

It’s available now for presale. 
About The Dogfather –
Who knew the world of designer purses could be such a dog-eat-dog business?

When a local, designer handbags store owner is found dead, the police first believe it’s an unfortunate accident. But the evidence doesn’t lie. Before you can say “wiseguy,” Bow Wow Boutique owner, Melinda Langston’s, former fiancé and undercover FBI agent, Grey Donovan, is the prime suspect.

Now the two are working side-by-side to prove Grey’s innocence— nothing personal, just business. Or is it? Suspects are piling up, family secrets are exposed, and no one is who they appear to be, including Mel’s newest employee. Time’s running out. Mel better sniff out the killer before she and Grey end up sleeping with the fishes.

Book Fog

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by Sparkle Abbey

We’ve all experienced it, right? That feeling when you’ve been so immersed in a story that you come up for air and the real world seems a little foggy.

As a reader, those are the best books aren’t they? The author has succeeded at taking us on a journey. We’ve lived in the world they’ve created and spent time with characters who seem like real people.

What readers might not realize is that writers experience book fog, too, but in our creative role, in a slightly different way.

Writers have many different approaches to writing a book – some plot extensively, others just jump in and write, and some revise as they writer. But regardless of the process, when we complete a book, we have lived with these characters, in this world we’ve created, living their hopes and dreams and conflicts, for a very long time.

We’re often asked: How does it feel when a book is done? Are you excited? We have to say, we’re almost always in a book fog. We’re tired, we feel that writing “the end” euphoria, but mostly we feel that a part of us is still in that book world.

Writers, we’re sure you’ll recognize what that’s like. Readers, the best way for us to explain it is that it’s like the feeling you get when the story captures you so completely that, for a little while after you finish the book, you’re still in – 1920s Australia, 1740 Scotland, or modern day Laguna Beach.

So readers, we have to ask, what was the last book that gave you book fog?

Leave a comment and we’ll draw for a prize in the next week!

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sparkle Abbey is the pseudonym of mystery authors Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter. They write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series which combines murder, zany characters and the wacky world of pampered pets. Their latest book, Barking with the Stars, will be released November 17th and can be pre-ordered right now on Amazon, Kobo, and iBooks.

Clicking Our Heels – Pets We Would Pick

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Clicking Our Heels – If We Could Have Any Animal as a Pet, What We Each
Would Pick
 Sparkle Abbey: That’s a difficult question for us because we both
have households with pets.  We’ve mostly
had cats and dogs through the years…or the occasional fish.  It’s easier to say what we would never want
as pets – spiders, snakes and bats.

Jennae
Phillippe:  While completely
impractical, I think I would love to live with a giant panda. I did have a
friend who had a raccoon as a pet, and I always thought that was pretty cool,
too. Although considering how much my cat keeps me on my toes, I am not sure I
could handle a more demanding pet.

Bethany
Maines: Let’s face it, dogs are the best pets – they have the matching
factors of cute, I’d have a polar bear. 
We would go on adventures and scare unwanted door to door salesmen.

Paula
Gail Benson:  I would like to have a
mythical animal pet, like a unicorn.  I
could ride it, talk to it, and admire its beauty, while it could take care of
any physical needs it might have, like for nourishment and rest.  And, being mythical, it could be immortal.

Kay
Kendall:  I need a fictional animal –
a unicorn.  I was horse crazy as a girl
but was allergic to horse dander and to hay. I figure a unicorn would have no
dander, no smell, not need to eat. Perfect. And beautiful too.

Paffi
Flood: If could have any animal as a pet, it’s be an elephant. I just love
elephants.

Kimberly
Jayne: There are so many to choose from! For different reasons, I’d love to
have pandas, goats, meerkats, and koalas. 
They’re all cuddly and funny to watch, like cats whom I could watch all
day. Fortunately, they’re not really good pets (except for some goats), or I’d
spend all my time messing with my exotic pets instead of writing my books!

Linda
Rodriguez: If my city would allow it, I’d own a pygora goat.  They’re cute, small, easy to handle, and
affectionate, and they bear cashmere quality fiber that you can comb off them
in the spring.  I’m a spinner and would
love to have the fiber to use.

Dru
Ann Love: A cat who would listen to me and give me insights into what life
should be.

Cathy
Perkins:  I’ve wanted a dragon ever
since I was a kid and read (devoured) all of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern Stories.

Debra H. Goldstein: A puppy to cuddle.

Four Reasons to Include Dogs and Cats in Adult Fiction

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By AB Plum






Writing noir stories short on violence, but long on psychological darkness, I often take a break to read something light or uplifting. I recently finished The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (https://www.amazon.com/Art-Racing-Rain-Novel-ebook/). I cried often.

When I finished the last sentence, I closed the book and thought about why I include dogs or cats in my romantic comedies and also in my darker psychological thrillers. 

1.  Dogs and cats bring out the best in my male characters. The four-legged characters have all come from shelters or “adopted” the hero.

Subtext: These guys—or in two instances young boys—vulnerable for many reasons, caring for their furry companions, show the reader they also take time to care for someone besides themselves.

2.  Dogs and cats can increase or decrease tension—especially sexual tension between the Hero and Heroine. In two of my novels, old, abandoned cats fall for the Heroine just like the Hero does.      


Subtext: Woe unto the Heroine who doesn’t like the Hero’s feline.



3.  Dogs and cats offer unconditional love to kids caught up in the twists and turns of the plot. Little boys can play Frisbee or chase with a dog and forget his parents’ divorce or his father’s disappearance. A teen-age girl, on the other hand, prefers a cat because they—frankly— smell better.

Subtext: Cats are a lot like teen-age girls: Wannabe divas. Dogs are a lot like five-and-six-year-old males:  Seekers of physical distraction.



4. Dogs and cats provide lots of chances to inject humor—often physical. Even on the darkest pages I write, I want to offer at least a ray of light. 

Subtext: A smile or a chuckle often works as well as a belly laugh to give the reader a bit of relief.
What about you, do you prefer all your characters to be human[oid]? Shoot me a yes-or-no reply:  ab@abplum.com. I answer all my email.

******************  
Accompanied by canine-companions in Southern Missouri, I developed a love of walking fast. Disregarding my Creative Writing prof’s advice, I wrote about the death of a favorite dog and received a C+. Maybe I’ve found the origins of this blog.
Coming in mid-October, The Early Years, the first serial installment of The MisFit Series. No dogs or cats until Book 4.

Puppy Training

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by Bethany Maines


Recently my daughter learned to crawl. She’s six months old, so
basically any time she learns something it’s “recently”. But as she
learns new tricks she forces my husband and I to adapt (and hopefully
overcome).  Sadly, in our sleep deprived
state we find ourselves relying on the training we did with our previous “child.”
As she learns new things my mind reaches out for words that will
get the result I want. Ack! She’s chewing on a power cord! Drop it! It works on
the dog, so my brain now auto selects for those oh, so useful training phrases.
Sadly, the phrases mean less than nothing to my daughter.  The only one she obeys is “stay”
and that’s only if she’s strapped in the car seat.  As a result my dog, Kato, thinks I got the
runty, stupid puppy of the litter.  I can
practically see the thought bubble over his head.  “Look human puppy, I am demonstrating
what to do. Figure it out!” The tiny daughter’s thought bubble says,
“Look at those shiny eyeballs; if I could pluck them out, it might be
fantastic. Why is the fuzzy one leaving?” Which is a terrible way to treat a
dog who is trying his best to be supportive.

Tiny Daughter & Kato the Wonder Dog demonstrate their similar interests.

Kato performs many important baby related jobs. There is the
“I alert you to the fact that the baby is crying.” (Believe me Kato,
we know.) There is the extremely useful butt check. Kato, would you like to
smell this butt? Oh, you would? Must be time for a diaper change. And the
adorable guard dog duty.  He is not quite
sure why the human puppy hasn’t been weaned to dog food, but if I’m going to
insist on breastfeeding her, then he will do his best to guard us while we’re
vulnerable.
But she is learning. She now knows her name and his name, and she
knows where the dog food is and how delightful it is to spill it all over the
floor. So while the dog thinks she’s dumb, I can see the day coming when he
will realize that her little monkey fingers are useful to help him get the
delicious human food he desires. 
Hopefully, by then she will also know what “sit,” “stay” and “drop it”
mean. 





Bethany Maines is the
author of the Carrie Mae Mystery series and Tales from the City of Destiny. You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube
video or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Will the Real Kate Davidson Please Stand Up?

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by Sparkle Abbey with Tracy Weber

Today we’d like to share a guest post from our friend and fellow dog-lover, Tracy Weber.

Take it away, Tracy!

I’m delighted to be here today with The Stiletto Gang, this fabulous group of authors. Most of you probably don’t know me. I am, after all, fairly new to the writing business. My first mystery, Murder Strikes a Pose was published this past January.

Long before my book arrived at your local bookstore, my mother
received a personal laser-printed copy of the manuscript. Of course she told me
she liked it.  What self-respecting
mother wouldn’t? One of her comments caught me off guard, however.

“I’m not very far into the book yet. I just reached the part
where you found the body.”
“Mom,” I replied, a little concerned. “You do know this is fiction, right?”
Let me assure you, I have never found a body near my yoga
studio—or anywhere else for that matter. And although a part of me exists in
every character, my books aren’t autobiographical. Still, people often tell me
that they see me in my yoga teacher sleuth, Kate Davidson. So, for the record,
here are some ways Kate and I are similar—and different.
Similarities
1
        1. We both
own yoga studios in Seattle.
Kate and I both teach yoga in the
Viniyoga tradition, and we both prefer it to other, more strenuous, types of
yoga. Although we both own small neighborhood yoga studios, mine (Whole Life Yoga)
is dedicated to the Viniyoga lineage. Kate’s (Serenity Yoga) offers a mixture
of yoga classes and styles.
        2. Kate
and I both have body image issues.
Kate and I are both short, and we
both have “normal” body types (whatever that means). But when we look in the
mirror, we see the “before” image in a Jenny Craig commercial. We’re working on
that.
3      3. Kate
and I both live with a horse-sized German shepherd.
Kate fosters Bella, the German shepherd
in the series; I own a German shepherd named Tasha. Both of our dogs have Exocrine
Pancreatic Insufficiency, will weigh over 100 pounds when full grown, and have,
shall we say, “quirky” personalities. But in spite of their issues, Kate and I
would be lost without them.
4      4. Neither
Kate nor I are perfect yogis, but we keep trying.
Occasionally a reader tells me that
Kate isn’t believable as a yoga teacher. She’s not thin enough, emotionally well-balanced
enough, or flexible enough. I’m not a typical yoga teacher, either. Kate can’t
do advanced yoga poses; neither can I. Kate wants to live according to yoga
philosophy but often fails. So do I. If Kate’s not a realistic yoga teacher, then
I’m not either. Hopefully my yoga students won’t figure that out any time soon.
Here’s Where We’re
Different:

1      1. I’m
not afraid of commitment.
Kate has what she terms “relationship
ADD,” meaning she can’t stick with a relationship for more than a date or two.  I, on the other hand, seek commitment. Just
ask my husband. I pestered and goaded and hounded him for three years before he
finally gave in and asked me to marry him.
2      2. Kate
and I had different childhoods.
Kate was raised as the only child
of a single-parent Seattle cop. I grew up with both of my parents on a dairy farm
in Billings, Montana. Kate’s a city girl through and through. I’m a farm girl
who has taken root in the city.
3      3. My neuroses
are different than Kate’s.
I’m as neurotic is the next yoga
teacher, but I’m neutral to facial hair. Kate has a very real phobia called pogonophobia.
Being near a man with a beard makes her feel anxious, itchy, and subtly
nauseated, which really sucks for her since she has a crush on Michael, the
bearded owner of Pete’s Pets, the pet store near her studio.
4      4. I
adore dogs to a fault.
Kate likes animals, but she never
wanted one of her own. I, on the other hand, yearned and planned and plotted
for over ten years before my husband gave in and agreed to adopt our German shepherd.
And unlike Kate, I knew that cute little fur ball would be the love of my life
the moment I laid eyes on her.
To be honest, personality-wise, I’m think I’m closer to Rene,
Kate’s best friend: a plotter, a jokester, a prankster, a conniver. Unlike
Kate, I don’t throw coffee mugs at the heads of little old ladies, and it’s
pretty rare for me to yell at anyone.

I’m too busy plotting murder.

Tracy Weber is a certified yoga teacher and the founder of
Whole Life Yoga, an award-winning yoga studio in Seattle, where she current­ly
lives with her husband, Marc, and German shepherd, Tasha. She loves sharing her
passion for yoga and animals in any form possible. When she’s not writing, she
spends her time teaching yoga, walking Tasha, and sip­ping Blackthorn cider at
her favorite ale house. Murder Strikes a Pose is her debut novel.  You can connect with Tracy on her website or on Facebook. 




Thanks for visiting The Stiletto Gang, Tracy. What a great post! The only way Caro and Mel, the cousins in our Pampered Pets Mystery Series, are like us is their love of animals and their choice of coffee drinks. Other than that…uhm…not so much.

Tracy has offered to give away a copy of her book to one lucky reader who leaves a comment. So, please leave a comment below for a chance to win! We’ll do a random drawing from all the contributors and announce the winner right here tomorrow. Good luck!

I need the Dog Whisperer

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by Maria Geraci

Cute, isn’t she? This is a picture of my 2 year old dachshund, Truffles taken last Halloween in her “pumpkin” costume.

Lately, however, Truffles hasn’t been so cute. She’s reverted back to her early puppy days of doing her “business” in the house. VERY frustrating. It took forever to house train her to begin with, so this reversion back to puppy days has me pulling my hair. Especially since I’m on deadline and would rather not step into one her presents on my rare break to the kitchen or ironically, the bathroom.

The pet psychiatrist in me thinks this reversion is related to the fact that our sweet, old mutt, Charlie was put to sleep a couple of months ago. Charlie was 13 and a BIG dog (over 100 lbs). Despite the fact they had nothing in common (he was huge, she is little. He was mutt smart, she is pedigree not-so-smart. He was patient, she is hyper) they loved each other and loved taking their walks. Since Charlie’s demise, however, Truffles is afraid of her leash and refuses to go on walks, unless you carry her out the door. Sigh.

I talked to the vet about it and he thinks she will outgrow this with some patience, but I’m at the end of my rope. Where is Cesar Millan when you need him? Anyone ever encounter this sort of doggie behavior? I need to turn my overdue manuscript in!

To Breed or Not to Breed…

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I have a confession to make.

I bought my dog from a breeder.

I know. It’s not the most socially responsible thing to do. I have heard it time and again and I walk the streets of my little village with my West Highland Terrier, Bonnie. “Is that a purebred?” I’m asked, sometimes with just vaguest hint of disdain.

“Yes, yes!” I want to cry. “I’m sorry! But I’m allergic and this breed is supposed to be hypo-allergenic.” (They’re not…at least to me who has superhero-sized allergies.) I want to continue, “They are supposed to be great with kids and easy to have around.” (All true.) And as I look at Fido, on the leash of the person I’m talking to, staring back at me with his golden retriever face with his dachshund-shaped body, I know the answer to the question I inevitably ask. “What’s your dog?”

“Oh, just a mutt. I rescued him.”

And then I feel bad about myself. (As if I need another reason.)

Five years ago, I got the hankering for a dog. I knew it would be a lot of work and that our collective lifestyle would have to change but the kids promised that they would help. Isn’t that great? (And a big, fat lie?) Anyway, here we sit, years later, with Bonnie, our beautiful and devoted West Highland Terrier who just might be the best dog ever. We adore her. And the kids do help with her, which from what I hear from my other friends with pets, is a miracle.

But since I’ve been out and about with her, I am mostly encountering rescued dogs and their owners. In the past several weeks alone, no fewer than three of my friends adopted dogs and the situation has been nothing but positive on all accounts. My best friend from college used to work at Animal Planet and feels very strongly that animals should be rescued not bought, although she has bonded with Bonnie the Westie . Her adamant opinion on rescue resulted in the adoption of Riley by mutual friends of ours, on whom the jury is still out. (Riley, that is, not our mutual friends.) Riley is an adorable beagle who was inexplicably abandoned and rescued by my friends. Riley seems to be smiling all the time, but according to my friend, it is the smile of the devil. Riley has yet to adapt to behavior in polite society, but still, we hope.

Another friend just adopted a poodle/Jack Russell Terrier mix named Pedro. Pedro is three, fully housebroken, and has adapted to life with my friend, her husband, and their four daughters like a fish to water. He now resides in a beautiful home on two acres and much to my surprise, sleeps between my normally-fastidious friend and her husband IN THEIR BED. (My dog sleeps on a pillow NEXT to my bed and yes, there is a difference.) No comment. Pedro is a very lucky dog and on the day I met him, conveyed his enthusiasm for his new living situation by attempting to give me a tour of his new digs as if to say, “Can you believe how good I’ve got it?!”

Yet another friend adopted a Great Dane/St. Bernard mix to add to their family of four dogs. When I showed my son a picture of Bruno, the new pup, he looked at me and said incredulously, “Do they have FIVE dogs now? And do you see the size of his paws?” Yes to both, son. And they love each and every one equally. Bruno was a dog that had been sent to a shelter where at the tender age of ten weeks, surely would have met his maker. He had been rescued from a flood-ravaged region of the United States with his sister and his brother, who I’m happy to report, have also been rescued by East Coast families. He’s fitting in quite well with the rest of the brood, with only one of his brothers exhibiting the least bit of jealousy at the new arrival. (He’ll get over it—like humans, everyone adjusts to a new family member. Eventually.)

And yet another friend has rescued two greyhounds. Greyhounds, you say? Me, too. They’ve never been a breed that has interested in me, and the aforementioned Pedro family had one whose breath stunk to high heaven. And then I met my other friend’s two dogs and fell in love with both of them, although the female and I appeared to have developed a deeper bond. They are gentle, loving, quiet, and good natured, which in my book are all of the qualities you would want in a dog (and a spouse, obviously).

The time may come when I’m ready for another dog—actually that time has already come but I’m not sure everyone is on board with the plan—and I think I will go the rescue route. We had a purebred Golden Retriever—the pick of the litter, no less—when I was growing up who unfortunately succumbed to a genetic disorder before his second birthday. The mutts, from what I hear, are heartier and healthier than the pure breeds, another thing to recommend them. My poor dog, Bonnie, suffers from skin allergies and a sensitive stomach and I do wonder if she had a more colorful genetic makeup if she’d suffer less. It’s anyone’s guess. But when Pedro’s new owner described the animal shelter to me and the number of animals there needing homes, it gave me pause. I’m able to control my allergies to my dog with consistent hand washing and vacuuming, so what would another supposedly hypo-allergenic dog (like Pedro) bring to the mix in terms of discomfort? Probably not a lot.

So, a show of hands please: is it time to give Bonnie a rescued playmate?

Maggie Barbieri

Does the Dog Die?

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The Southern half of Evelyn David thought things had gone pretty well. It was her first library talk after the publication of Murder Off the Books. Good turnout, delicious refreshments, the group had laughed at the jokes and listened with interest to the creative process that goes into writing a murder mystery. She opened up the floor to questions.

“Can you promise me that no dogs or humans are killed in your book?”

Hmmmm.

Well, it was easy enough to promise the first. We guarantee that no animals were harmed in the creation of this mystery.

But as to the second? No vows could be made.

In fact, as a murder mystery, it seems to me that there is an implicit agreement between readers and the author: somebody will bite the dust. In Murder Off the Books, in fact, somebody kicks the bucket (or has the bucket kicked for them) in the first paragraph.

We decided to ignore the old showbiz warning: Never work with kids and dogs. Whiskey, the adorable and adored Irish wolfhound in our book, weighs 120 pounds, is six feet tall when she stands on her hind legs, and has never met a cheeseburger she didn’t enjoy. She instinctively knows the good guys from the bad guys, offers licks to those she loves, and growls to those who are dangerous. She brings warmth, goodness, and yes, humanity, to a book that explores the origins and effects of evil.

Animals in books serve many purposes – much like they do in our lives. Of course, Whiskey is a plot device. In Murder Off the Books, the hairy beast is a sounding board for our protagonist Mac Sullivan’s inner thoughts. Whiskey is also comic relief, our version of the gravedigger in Hamlet. She provides the audience with a laugh in the midst of murder and mayhem. And unlike the humans who surround her, Whiskey is clearly drawn with no shades of gray. Everybody, but bad guys, likes Whiskey.

But including a dog in the narrative is tricky. You have to appeal to readers without turning them off. I still can’t re-watch Old Yeller because while I understand the dramatic purpose of the dog’s death, I vividly recall the childhood trauma of hearing the rifle shot and understanding what had transpired off-screen. I’m perfectly fine with killing all the villains in whatever gruesome manner an author chooses – but anything with four legs must survive. Thank goodness Trusty in Lady and the Tramp had no more than a broken leg.

I recognize that over-crowded animal shelters and Michael Vick’s off-season “hobby” are clear evidence that, in real life, animals are frequently at risk. And yet, I can’t write fictional stories with that kind of storyline. It’s not that those books can’t be done with taste and care – but my imagination won’t let me travel that road.

Clio, the Irish terrier who shares my office while I write, fulfills many of the same roles that Whiskey does. She’s privy to my musings on how to create fictional havoc; she offers comfort when writer’s block descends; she’s always good for a laugh as she rolls on her back, four legs in the air, and waits for a tummy rub. Maybe that’s the reason why I can’t create stories where animals are harmed? It’s too close to home.

In the meantime, I’ll just re-read The Thin Man. I’ll visit speakeasies, sip martinis with Nick and Nora, and toss a treat to Asta. She’s a schnauzer with a nose for murder. I’d like to introduce her to Whiskey.

Evelyn David