Critters in Fiction

 JENN McKINLAY: I know we've talked about this before but as my asst is about to launch DUDEsday (every Tuesday in May and June on my Insta/FB), having critters in fiction is on my mind. 

What is DUDEsday? It's a chance to win this sweet bookmark of Dude (you can see him carrying a stick on the book's cover). Right now, you can jump the DUDEsday line by leaving a comment on this blogpost to be entered to win this Dude bookmark. Winner will be announced in tomorrow's blog. Good Luck!

Who is Dude? He's the Harlequin Great Dane sidekick of Hannah the female main character of The Summer Share. Not gonna lie, I feel like Dude steals the book just like the donkey Maybellene takes the spotlight in the book I just turned in entitled If Summer Never Ends. Why do I have a Great Dane and a donkey in my romcoms? Because I love animals, obvi, but also because I think they add comic relief and give insight into my main character's ability to care for others and be vulnerable. 

Looking back, I realize there have been critters in all of my books just as in my life. Currently, I live in a house with 2 dogs, 5 cats, and several feral yard cats that we share the care of with our neighbors. That's A LOT of critters. 

I have noticed that many of the books I've read recently do not have critters, although I've been reading a lot of fantasy so sometimes the critter equivalent is a sentient houseplant or a dragon, there's a fairly wide spectrum there. I can't say that I'd reject a book with no furry sidekicks, but I definitely enjoy a book a little bit more when they appear.

How about you, Reds and Readers? Do you notice when there's a pet? Do you have a preference, pet or not pet? Do you think they add value or detract from the story? 

Singing Those Veterinary Blues

Karen-in-Ohio made an excellent point, asking how families manage the kind of expenses that pets can incur. There are hundreds of small charities out there helping owners with overwhelming medical bills. If you search for "charities to help pay vet bills in -my state-" you'll quickly see what's out there. If you're an animal lover, looking for a way to help folks in straightened times, this is an excellent way to do so.  

 

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Those of you who are regular visitors to JRW will remember the saga of Walker, the $15,000 cat. I was discussing the epic while a guest at Hallie’s house, and she pointed out it was more like $17,000, with the USDA certification fee, the in-cabin airline pet fees, and having to buy Youngest a brand new ticket when we discovered Jet Blue didn’t allow pets to travel IN the plane. So for now, Walker will be known as the $17,000 cat. That’s $26,265 CAD, for our northern friends.


I say for now, because I recently discovered Walkers stubborn refusal to put on weight is due to a hyperactive thyroid. Easily cured by giving him two pills a day (at the current cost of $200 a year) for the rest of his life, which should be another 13 to 17 years, if he doesn’t escape the house again and fling himself under a passing vehicle. OR I can solve the problem at one go with a radioactive iodine treatment for $1,700 - $2,000.


Dear readers, I invite you to picture my face upon hearing this.


Reds, have any of you gone to absurd lengths to keep a pet healthy? Does anyone have a veterinary tale as unbelievable as mine?


RHYS BOWEN: My daughter’s dog just tore an ACL. This involves surgery at UC Davis veterinary hospital, plus constant monitoring for two weeks, plus being confined to a small area so that she doesn’t overuse the leg. A month before surgery she tore the second ACL. That surgery will be two months after the first one. And believe me, neither is cheap. I gather the ACL tear is a common problem of the breed. My other daughter who has a delightful mutt sniffed and said, “Pure breeds!”


DEBORAH CROMBIE: Our German shepherd Jasmine hasn’t quite caught up with Walker, but it’s close–like maybe a new sofa and a trip to England amount on the good old Citibank card. What happened to her was so bizarre that I don’t think you can blame it on the breed. We will probably never know what caused the infection in her neck, and it wasn’t a sudden decision to commit to surgery or a course of treatment, it was one trip to the vet, another to the pet ER, then another to the vet, etc., etc. The good news is that after three months, even though she still has a couple of staples and still has a wrap around her neck and a soft e-collar, she’s almost completely healed. I sure wish we’d had pet insurance!


HALLIE EPHRON: I’ve never had a dog, and cats only briefly before being hospitalized with asthma and having to give those sweetie-pies up. But I get it. A pet is a commitment, a chore and a delight. Heck, we took our hamster to the vet when he came down with testicular cancer. Of course we did.



JULIA: Hallie, I'm trying SO hard not to laugh at the idea of hamster testicles...


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, my darling cat Lola lived to be 20, and in her most senior years, she was often at the vet. She would NOT get into the cat carrier to go there, though. She would stick her legs straight out wide, stiff, like a cartoon cat, and refuse. The only way to get her to the vet was to put her on my shoulder where she;d ride like a parrot. Of course, I would have done anything for her, even at the end, where she was still fine, but frail, and would eat only fresh ground turkey or chopped up fresh shrimp. Fine with me, whatever she wanted.



As for giving Walker pills, Julia, good luck with that. Lola would gobble up whatever I gave her to try to hide her pills–lamb, tuna, chicken–then swallow dramatically, then daintily spit out the pill.



JULIA: I've bought some fancy pill pockets, Hank - we'll see how well they work.


JENN McKINLAY: Oof, I’ve had some pricey vet bills when the schnauzer had his cancerous toe removed and when one of our dogs went into kidney failure while we were traveling and we kept her on dialysis until we could get back (only because she wasn’t suffering and we returned within days). I’ve always had pets and I believe as their person our deal is that I take care of them to the best of my abilities and as long as their quality of life is at the forefront of every decision. Since I like my critters more than most people, paying for their care is a no-brainer. LOL.


LUCY BURDETTE: Agree with the others–paying exorbitant sums for medical care as needed is part of the deal when acquiring a pet. After we adopted Tonka the Aussie, who was “free” because his teeth were not show-dog quality, he tore his rotator cuff three weeks into our tenure. The breeder told us to bring him back, she’d exchange him for another dog. Can you imagine? After three weeks we were hopelessly in love. So we paid for the $3000 surgery and many other procedures over the year. Money well spent for the joy he brought!



JULIA: This reminds me of the Mastercard ads: Pet Food - $30, Pet Cataract Surgery - $3000, Having a best friend for life: Priceless. How do you feel about it, dear readers?

SOMETHING'S FISHY

JENN McKINLAY: There was a murder in our house this week. Or so I thought. 

The origin story: Way back in October, Hooligan 1 and his Plus 1 arrived at our house with a sad looking goldfish that Plus 1 had won at a carnival game at October Fest. They already had their quota on critters, so Hub and I happily adopted the little fish, naming it Shohei Ohtani because Hub's beloved Dodgers were in the World Series.

Surprisingly, our cats all ignored little Shohei...well, all except one.

Tig was rather obsessed with Shohei and liked to "help" me feed him. For his part, Shohei didn't seem to mind the chonky cat, as if knowing Tig couldn't reach him and his life was such an upgrade from carnie life that he frequently did zoomies around his tank and was a talented rapper, his fave being Eminem's Lose Yourself (see video - which I hope managed to capture the audio).

Fast forward to this week, Hub and I left the menagerie to play in our weekly volleyball league (where we froze but that's another blog post). Tig had "helped" me feed Shohei before we left and I thought nothing of it. 

When we arrived home, I went to switch off the tank light but little fish did not come to rap at me. Huh. I looked to see if he was hiding in his house. Nope. There was no sign of him. Little Shohei was GONE and there was no sign of a struggle. The tank was intact, no water anywhere, nothing. 

I was distraught. Shohei had brought me much joy over the past few months and I adored him.

I wanted to know what happened to him, but there was absolutely no evidence. Still I had my suspicions...my "helper" Tig must have done it! Hub pointed out the impossibility of the cat opening the tiny food door, grabbing the fish, and closing the food door without making a mess but I was still unconvinced. I mean look at this face. It has apex predator all over it!

I called Hooligan 1 and he was very sweet about the loss. When I talked to my mom the next morning she suggested the "fish rapture" might have taken Shohei. LOL. I kept giving Tig a side eye, wondering if he'd burp up some fish bones. He did not.

Then Hooligan 2 stopped by with his Plus 1 (they'd snagged me a cupcake to help push through my deadline) and I told them the story of the mysterious disappearance. They were also sad (we all adored Shohei). And then Hooligan 2 said, "Mom, he's in the bottom of his cave. Very dead."

What?! I went racing over to check and sure enough there he was. Y'all, I checked that tank with a flashlight. He was not in there! I have no idea where little dude was hiding his dead self for 24 hours, but he managed it. This morning, I buried him in our backyard pet sematary cemetery with a simple somber service. 

Now here's the take away: This is exactly how people believe an innocent person did something that they didn't do! I was thinking with my heart and not my head, looking for a culprit when it was natural causes (in my defense if Shohei's body had been visible from the beginning, we could have avoided all of the unpleasantness, but I digress). For what it's worth, I profusely apologized to Tig for all of the dark looks I sent his way and gave him extra treats. "When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong." (Who knows what movie that quote is from?).

Anyway, anyone else misjudge their pet as badly as I did? Or have a goofy pet story to share? Happy Friday!

 

What to Take in a Hurricane

LUCY BURDETTE: Honestly, hasn’t this been an unbearable week news-wise? It’s a little hard to maintain a person's optimistic equilibrium. And then I woke last Friday to see the above prediction on my weather app. 

We kind of expect the worst storms in Key West, but occasionally they come to our summer spot, Connecticut. I freak out no matter which place is in the bullseye. I don’t want to live through a scary hurricane, I get nervous with a lot of wind and a bad thunderstorm. We live in a low lying neighborhood that has been flooded more than once, suffering damage and long blackouts during both Sandy and Irene.

And besides, our town‘s first selectwoman had emailed, texted, and Robo-called us to say we needed to evacuate by 8 PM Saturday. Why would I argue with her?

 John, being a more phlegmatic personality, would have been happy to ride out the storm. Then some good friends who live 40 minutes inland invited us to stay along with the animals. The writing was on the wall. The only question left was what to pack. 

Several of our neighbors were declining to evacuate, even though by this point the fire department had also come through all the streets to suggest that we leave. One neighbor, with anxiety even greater than mine, had packed up all of her important stuff including birth certificate, marriage certificate, and insurance papers. We both packed plenty of pet food. Lottie would be happy eating people food if her kibble ran out, but T-bone is particular. Prescription medication for everyone who needs it, of course.

Here are the furries hunkered down in their hurricane shelter quarters, both a little nervous.

I also packed my computer with pretty much my life on it, including the book that is due on Tuesday, A DISH TO DIE FOR. And my phone and iPad with multiple chargers. But what about books? John would point out that my Kindle app is loaded with more books than I’ll ever finish in my lifetime, but I also have a marvelous stack of hardcover and paperbacks that I’ve been collecting over the summer. Was I going to load them all into the car? I whittled it down to two.


Here are my furries after we'd been at our friends' place for an hour.

As it turned out, the storm was a bust, thank goodness. So was I sheepish? Not really, we had a nice visit with our friends, and I would do the same thing next time. I can write my characters into all kinds of scary situations, but I don't have the nerve to stick out weather danger myself.

How about you? Are you an evacuator, or someone who will hold the line against any kind of weather? If you were leaving and had a little time to prepare, what would you take?

Do You Have the Pet Gene?

LUCY BURDETTE: I am starting the week overloading you with puppy pictures, but I can’t help myself as this little girl is only 9 1/2 weeks old. Here Lottie (Carlotta) is meeting Snuggle Puppy, who has a beating heart that is supposed to remind her of her mom so SHE CAN SLEEP. Possibly even one day THROUGH THE NIGHT...

T-bone and John are a little grumpy about having a puppy in the house. (I am trying to do most of the puppy duty until they come around). 

T-bone's thinking about it

Twice in the span of our 28 year marriage, we’ve had a set of animals die close together. First it was Poco the Aussie followed by two undistinguished cats. And then two years ago, Tonka, the wonderful amazing Aussie, love of my life, and the marvelous and popular gray cat Yoda both died within the span of a month.

John adored both of those animals in the end, and enjoyed the antics of the others. But he would be perfectly content not to have a pet in the house. He acquiesced about a cat after I moaned and groaned for five animal-empty months, and I went with a friend to pick out my wonderful T-bone. This spring, I began to agitate about getting a dog. 

“I thought I might be able to extinguish the pet gene if I waited long enough,” he said with chagrin. “But it’s too strong in your family.”

Lucy's mom with Schatzie

And that’s totally true. My mother was mad for animals and we always had two or three around, often more. German Shepherds, cats, guinea pigs and other assorted rodents all took up residence. My father could’ve done without, but he caved because my mother adored them. So that’s the question for today, do you have a family history of a pet gene? Even if you don’t have an animal right now?

RHYS BOWEN : my family absolutely had the pet gene. Growing up we had Sooty followed by Brownie followed by Patch ( who was a champion bull terrier. Looked terrifying but was a big old softie) and lastly Waldi the dachshund the love of my life. When the kids were small we had a disaster of an English Setter but a lovely cat called Marmalade. Since then no animals. Why? Because John absolutely does not have the pet gene. He claims it’s because we live in two places and travel so much. But I’ve worked out what it is with men!  Any attention given to a cute furry thing is attention not given to them!

At least I have adorable grand-dogs who love me.

HALLIE EPHRON: I don’t know it’s genetic (my mother was decidedly not an animal person) but if it weren’t for asthma and allergies, I’d have cats. Jerry and I had one, then two, then four in a two-bedroom apartment in NY. The basement of our NY UPPER West Side apartment building seemed to breed them. 

Gradually we gave them away as I got sicker. My favorite was a black and white male we named Eloise before it became obvious that she was a he. I still miss him/her. 

JENN McKINLAY: Oh, yeah, I have that gene BIG TIME. In my defense, I grew up with dogs,  rabbits, guinea pigs, gerbils, chickens, ducks, geese, a horse, fish, and on and on. My dad rescued a lot of birds and rehabbed them - my favorite was a sparrow hawk that lived in his art studio for an entire winter while he trained it (with raw liver) to hunt and thrive with one foot -- Dad found him on a farm caught in a bird leg trap and had to amputate the mangled leg. Naturally, my own very small house is overrun with pets. Presently, we are at three cats, two dogs, and a fish who won’t die (seriously, we’ve had him for 13 years -- he’s going in the will).

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Not much of a pet gene here. My dad liked dogs, and they had several in the years before I was born, but they were outside dogs who all came to bad ends and my mom never wanted an animal of any kind in the house. She especially disliked cats! When I was nine, my parents gave into my pleading and adopted a middle-aged  miniature poodle that was being given away by relatives who were moving out of the country. Poor Jolie, she was such a disappointment. Certainly not the dog of my dreams! In my teens I had fish and gerbils and finches, much to my mom's dismay, then eventually a nearly feral kitten. My mom was horrified, but the cat stayed. My maternal grandmother did like cats, however, and in the last years of her life adopted a blue Persian, which had to be re-homed when she died.

These days we have two dogs, three cats, and four koi in the pond.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, dear, well, that’s a good question. Growing up, we had SO many pets! Endless cats--Mrs. Purdy, who gave birth to her kittens in my closet on my first day in eighth grade, Picnic, Rosemary, and Rosemary’s babies, who were named F. Scott and Zelda.
We had a whole string of Irish Setters--Rusty (who chased cars and lived most of his life with three legs as a result) and Penny (who saved my sister Liz from being hit by a car while riding her pony and in order to protect our parents, Liz and I buried Penny back in the fields by ourselves) (Liz got in trouble.) And Roderick St. John. We had a Hungarian Sheepdog (a Puli) named Maggie, and two English Spaniels, Bailey and Barkely. Oh, and at one point, a massive Great Dane, Milton. And the ponies and horses. And two gerbils, named Chet and David, which Mrs. Purdy, um, ate.
AND a stupid stupid STUPID Mynah bird (named Yurza, get it?) who learned to imitate the phone, which was beyond annoying.

You all know about my darling cat Lola, who died at age 20 and loved only me --ONLY me--until she met Jonathan, who is deathly allergic to cats, and as soon as she figured that out, she sat on him every moment she could. And the hilarious and unique Leon, who would wake me up in the morning by batting me in the face with a paw.

So, bottom line, Jonathan is allergic to dogs and cats, (probably a good thing, since I’d adore to have a cat), we have our ducks!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I very rarely had pets when growing up, as we moved a lot in the military. My sister and I begged and pleaded for a dog, and we adopted one... and three months later were were posted to Germany. The dog went to Grandma's, and by the time we returned from Europe four years later it wasn't our dog anymore, but Grandma's beloved companion.



Perhaps as a result, my brother, my sister and I have always had pets as adults. Patrick specializes in one very well trained dog at a time. Barb has packs of dogs. No exaggeration - she's down to three since one recently passed away. As the only one in the family without cat allergies, I've had one or two kitties since I was twenty-five, with one or two dogs mixed in (not counting the foster dogs and long-term sitting for friends.) Just adding them up in my head, I realize right now we all have the same number of pets as we do children! 

In my household, the Maine Millennial is the owner of the current dog and one cat, and I have the other (for values of the words "owner" and "have." I keep saying when Neko passes away, I'm done with kitties, because of family allergies (see above.) I'm sure you'll all get to see if I keep that pledge or not. I suspect I'm a lot more like Lucy in this regard!

Reds, does the pet gene run in your family? Or are you just as happy to watch from the sidelines?

Gone to the Dogs by Jenn McKinlay

JENN McKINLAY: “Five puppies in the bed, and the little one said, “Roll over, roll over.” So they all rolled over and one fell out.” This is a counting rhyme I used to sing when I was a children’s librarian. Now…it’s my life. Why?

Well, way back when when Hub and I got married, I came with Chubs, a cat. Chubs had more staying power than any of my prior boyfriends, so he was allowed to sleep wherever he wanted. Because loyalty matters. Naturally, Chubs chose the bed, and Hub learned to live with it. 

https://www.facebook.com/OffTheLeashDailyDogCartoons/ 

Then we got a dog, Lucy. She was a great dog, a standard poodle, but not a snuggler. She had boundary issues as princesses do. Lucy patrolled the house at night and once assured we were all safe and sound she went to her own room, the office, where she happily slept on the couch, with her legs in the air and her head on a pillow – no, not kidding. 

Sadly, in the following years, both animals passed away. We got two more cats, Patsy and Loretta, who each chose a hooligan to sleep with, and Hub and I had our double bed all to ourselves. Yes, I said double as in a full size, basically a twin on steroids. We were still newlyweds, so we didn’t mind the close quarters. Then we got another dog, a schnauzer, named Otto. 

Otto was roughly the size of a guinea pig when we he came to us. Tiny, pitiful, my little bundle of eyebrows and mustache, I couldn’t bear to stuff him in a crate to sleep. He slept on my chest for months so that my heartbeat could soothe him. Yeah, he was so soothed, he became the most pathetic mama’s boy known to canine kind. I couldn’t (still can’t) take a step without him. Then we found Annie, our pittie mix, thrown out in an alley. She quickly became Daddy’s girl and worked her way up into the bed by batting her big, brown eyes at the Hub, also known as the marshmallow. Plus, she and Otto are besties so where one goes, the other follows. 

https://www.facebook.com/OffTheLeashDailyDogCartoons/

So now, Hub and I were in a bed built for two with what was essentially another small adult in the bed. Oy vey. Did we kick them out? No. Did we train the dogs to sleep elsewhere? No. We bought a bigger bed, because, of course, we did. Let me just say, king sized is just right. I love this bed so much, I dream about it when I’m traveling and am forced to sleep in lesser beds. 

But then, we found a tiny kitten. King George. At first, he slept on a heating pad in a box (he was that itty bitty), then in a fleecy blanket in his little crate. Once he had some self determination, he moved to the master bathroom sink. Next it was a perch on his cat tree. All perfectly acceptable. But recently, the weather got cold, and I woke up to a pair of feet in my face because Little G had migrated to the bed, too. 

Little G sleeping with the big dogs.

Did I boot him out? Nope. Did I try and roll him over? Nuh uh. Instead, I contorted myself into some weird shape that resembled a fusilli pasta noodle because heaven forbid baby gets deprived of a minute of his twenty hours of cat naps. 

Yes, I know. My life has gone to the dogs..and cat.

So, how about you, Reds and Readers, are you the victim of pets in the bed? Or are you made of sterner stuff?  

RHYS AND HER TOYS

RHYS BOWEN:  The other day I talked about ways to handle stress. I think another of my ways is having toys around me. Okay, I admit, I've never really grown up. I still like to play. I remember once being on a beach in India. I caught a lot of tiny hermit crabs and lined them up to race back into the ocean. I looked up and was surrounded by solemn local inhabitants, women in saris, all staring and wondering if this was some kind of religious ceremony!

 It was great when my grandkids were small. I loved playing with them. My twins in Arizona had big cardboard building blocks. I would build a wall with them and the twins would hide behind it. They were the pigs and I was the big bad wolf. When I blew their house down they rushed around squealing in terror and delight. Or I put those blocks across the floor as stepping stones and I was an alligator waiting for them to fall into the water. Of course they always did!

With my granddaughters in California we went into the woods and built fairy houses in hollow trees. We lined them with moss, made furniture, decorated them with flowers and wove curtains to hide the entrance. I was as thrilled as they were when we rediscovered one, years later and still in tact.

Now they are all teenagers and sophisticated and I have to resort to my toys. I have toys sitting at my desk: an Edgar Allen Poe bobblehead, a Poe action figure with raven on shoulder, an Eleanor Roosevelt doll (perhaps the ugliest doll I've ever seen but I love her). And in Arizona, where I am currently, I have Eliot. He was a gift from my daughter and is wonderfully wise and inspirational. When I'm stuck with my writing he comes up with suggestions: perhaps you could hide the body in the trunk, he says.

 I've always taken toys with me when I travel. Hybird has been with me all over the world. Local people have stared when I perched him on Queen Victoria's head in Malta.

When I go on book events I usually take my bears, Sophie and Alexander. You can tell which is which, can't you? Alexander has a naughty grin on his face and Sophie is always telling him to behave himself. I want to find the time to make them outfits and a house, but time seems to be the one thing I lack!





My other traveling couple are Stanley and Livingstone. They are tiny rubber animals so easy to slip into a pocket in my carry-on, and have such cheerful faces. They always make me smile when I return exhausted after an evening at a bookstore. Stanley is the bear, of course. You can see he's a goofball, and Livingstone takes himself very seriously.

So am I seriously deranged or does anyone else have toys around?  I realize that what I lack is pets to play with, but we live in two places and travel so much that it wouldn't be fair to have a pet right now.

Dipping Your Toe in Instagram

INGRID THOFT

The Reds have recently been contemplating Instagram, the social media platform that focuses on pictures, and is the favored platform for kids today, meaning everyone under forty!  There will always be debate about the benefits and drawbacks of any one social media platform, but there's no denying that Instagram is a treasure trove of amazing images and the potential to connect users with shared interests no matter where they live.

Even if you have no interest in posting on IG, you can set up an account and look and lurk to your heart's content.  No matter your interests, you'll find instagrammers who are on the same wavelength.  Obviously, you can find everything and anything book-related, but rather than play favorites, here are some of my favorites beyond the realm of books.

@atlasobscura

Dedicated to the world's "strange and wondrous side," @atlasobscura features places you'd love to visit and even some you wouldn't.  If you have wanderlust or like to rubberneck in front of your phone or computer, this account is one to follow.

@thepetpark

Okay, full disclosure, I'm friends with the guy who owns this account, but I'd love it even if I weren't.  @thepetpark aggregates the funniest, cutest, most jaw dropping pet pics and videos.  If I'm on my phone, and I burst out laughing, chances are, I'm catching up on The Pet Park feed.  Guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

@theroyalfamily

This account also puts a smile on my face, and not just because of the Duke and Duchess (and their baby on-the-way.)  @theroyalfamily features a variety of family members and is focused on their charitable works.  Have any doubt that the Queen is one of the hardest working women in the world?  You won't after a couple of weeks following her on IG.

@dinneralovestory

I've long been a fan of Jenny Rosenstrach's blog and cookbooks, which offer recipes and meal planning for the non-Martha Stewarts among us.  Rosenstrach's IG account offers meal ideas, great guests, and terrific travel posts that will point you to the best restaurants in town.  

@divingpassport

Even if you don't like to wade out past your ankles, it's hard not to be wowed by the amazing photographs on @divingpassport.  The colors, exotic locations, and sheer variety in sea life, always make me itch to get back in the water.

Do you have any Instagram favorites?  Or are you looking for some suggestions?  Stop by the comments and weigh in!

Animals as Main Characters, Sidekicks, or Extras by Jenn McKinlay

Recently, I sat down with Booklist and was asked about the animals in my life (Booklist Reader Interview). And I told them...

"We have Otto the schnauzer with the best self-esteem of anyone I’ve ever known. He is my familiar and follows me everywhere. Yes, even into the bathroom. Next we have our rescue, Annie, the uber-sensitive pit bull mutt who cowers if anyone raises their voice; she does not like conflict. Subsequently, there are no arguments in our house because no one wants to upset the dog. Then we have the escape artist Loretta, our black cat, who has disappeared numerous times only to return days later with a mysterious look on her face, making us all wonder what sort of adventure she had while away. Patsy, Loretta’s sister, is our big-boned feline, who loves her food and everyone else’s food and is the one who is actually in charge of the house. All the pets run away from Patsy when she is in a mood. Lastly, we have Kevin, the fish who won’t die. Ten years ago, we took him in for our neighbor while he painted his living room, but Kevin, who likes to spit rocks, never left. Meanwhile the neighbor has moved away, left the state actually. We are thinking we will have to put Kevin in our will."




I realized when I answered their question that having a life that has gone to the dogs, cats, and fish is probably why I write animals as supporting characters into all of my books. While none of the animals is the main character in their story, they are certainly ever present sidekicks.

For the mysteries, I have a dog named Heathcliff in the library lover’s books, and for the cupcake bakery series, there is a cat named Captain Jack. In my romantic comedy Bluff Point series, it’s all "about a dog", the first book co-starring a rescue named Tulip, and in BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE (coming out tomorrow!!!), the story features a geriatric golden retriever, Saul, a disabled basset hound, Hot Wheels, and a foul mouthed parrot, Ike. And in my upcoming new romantic comedy series, the cats rule the roost, so clearly my fiction is full of what my dad would have called “fur people”. 

Why do I include animals (aside from the fact that I love them, obvy)? Because I think having animals in the stories allows my characters to show vulnerabilities where they might not be able to otherwise. Also, there can be some darn funny scenes when you have a parrot whose catch phrase is, "Oh, for f**k's sake!" And, no, he didn't say fork.

How about you, Reds? Where do animals fit into your stories? And if they don’t, why or why not?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: All of my  my main series characters have pets-wait, do they? Yes, they do. Jane has her cat Coda, and Charlotte has Botox. Jake has a golden retriever, Diva. But! Having a dog became a burden, I have to say, because Jake was always having to go take care of her. So I dropped Diva off at Jake's mom's house, and that, serendipitously, became a story line. (All the animals are rescues, I just realized.)  Which is part of the point, kind of, isn't it? A main character having a pet proves they are kind and loving and responsible and--since the pet loves them back--it reinforces that you are supposed to like the character. (Remember Save TheCat, right? I'm laughing because in The Wrong Girl, Jane actually DOES save a cat, and I worried that was too on the nose.)   And in Say No More,  poor sad victimized  agoraphobia Tosca has a fish, a single goldfish, swimming alone in a glass bowl.  See what I did there? :-) 

I've auctioned off a pet's character's name a couple of times, and the results really dictate what the pet will be. Cooper turned out to be a killer (literally) Irish Setter.  And Rocco, well, I had to make Rocco a puffy little white lapdog. Long story. 

LUCY BURDETTE: all three of the main characters in my mystery series have had cats. Yoda (my elderly feline in residence) would tell you that this is obviously because cats are superior beings. In the Key West mysteries, Hayley arrived in town with her gray tiger Evinrude. I think I recall correctly that realizing he came with a litter box was a defining moment for her ex-boyfriend deciding to throw them out – obviously he was a CAD! You may remember that this cat caused an extensive discussion with my former editor about how to portray his expression on the cover. 

Cats on the cover for Lucy!

JENN: Cats on covers, Lucy. Don't even go there!

LUCY: I too, Hank, have auctioned off pet naming opportunities in this series. So there are now three elderly animals living on the houseboat next to Hayley and Miss Gloria's place--Schnootie the schnauzer, and two older cats, Dinkels and Jack. And I ended up having to give a little dog to Detective Nathan Bransford because of another auction. The winner was a Chihuahua/ Miniature Pinscher mix named Ziggy Stardust. He doesn't make a lot of appearances, but he would say they're always at key moments. 

HALLIE EPHRON: I have no pets in my life but that hasn't kept me from putting them in my books. Phoebe, a key character in NEVER TELL A LIE, is "a dog of indeterminate breed with a fat sausage body, skinny legs, and the black jowls of a bull mastiff.  The dog’s snout was studded with white whiskers and her fur was brown and threadbare in places, like a well-loved plush toy." It wheezes and stutter-steps along, and takes a star turn in saving the life of the main character. 

In THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN, my old woman has a cat named Ivory ("The cat draped itself, languid and boneless in her arms, and purred like a wheezy truck engine.") who helps the the main character figure out what's going on.

Maybe that's what my new manuscript needs, a few pets... or maybe some vermin.   

INGRID THOFT: I never noticed before you asked, Jenn, but I have no pets in my books!  None!  That’s crazy, and I’ll have to rectify that in my WIP.  It’s not a mystery why pets aren’t on my brain:  We don’t have any.  Although both my husband and I had dogs, cats, fish, hamsters, and the occasional lizard as pets growing up, we’ve been without animals throughout our adult lives.  I’m allergic to cats and dogs, and we travel enough to make caring for any fur people a dicey proposition.  My husband does have a beautiful, large saltwater fish tank, which demands his time and attention, although most of the functions can be automated if we travel.  

So, there’s going to be a pet in SUBMERGED, but which pet?  I’m off to look at dog images on the Net!

JENN: Ingrid, this is exciting. It's like you're getting an actual pet. Do keep us posted. I think virtual/fictional pets might be the best sort to have. Did I mention I cleaned up twelve spots of dog vomit this morning. Ugh.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Jenn, one of Duncan and Gemma's new kittens is named Captain Jack and the other is Rose, which is one of my little inside jokes that no one except Doctor Who fans will get. But Duncan's parents also have a border collie named Jack, and a main character in an earlier book was called Jack, AND the book-in-progress has a character named Jack.... So there's another post in there on name repetition, I think...

Deb's Cat

JENN: Debs, I love the name Jack (clearly). I wanted to name one of our hooligans Jack but with the last name Orf...yeah, no.

DEBS: I think my only book without animals was the very first one, A SHARE IN DEATH. In the second book, Duncan adopts his dead neighbor's cat, Sid. In the fifth book, Kit (Duncan's son) finds a little terrier abandoned and shivering behind a Tesco supermarket--hence Tess.  In the eighth book, Gemma adopts a cocker spaniel named Geordie. And in the sixteenth book, Kit and Toby rescue a mother cat and kittens and are allowed to keep two of the kittens, which puts animals in the immediate family now at two dogs and three cats.  There are many more sprinkled throughout the series. I like writing about animals, and it certainly reflects my life, with two dogs and three cats. Hmmm. Are you seeing a pattern here? I hadn't even realized I'd mirrored my own household.... There are certainly dogs in the b-in-p, too, several border collies, an Irish deerhound, and a Jack Russell terrier. Cats may insinuaate themselves, but England is, after all, a very doggy country.

Deb's dogs

My favorite charity naming character was an English Mastiff named Mo who appears in WHERE MEMORIES LIE.  I had a really hard time trying to figure out how to work this big dog into the book, but in the end he almost stole the story.


RHYS BOWEN: I've steered away from pets in most of my books. I heard horror stories from friends who gave their sleuths a pet and every time they didn't feed the cat or walk the dog for twenty pages they got letters telling them how terrible they were. Actually it's never really been a factor because Molly Murphy in the early 1900s could barely afford to feed herself and Lady Georgie doesn't really have a place to call her own. But in the book In Farleigh Field there are a couple of lovely golden retrievers who play a part in the story and in the next Royal Spyness book I'm writing there are some very annoying birds! (whom Hank might recognize).

How about you, Readers? Are you partial to fiction with pets, why or why not? Or do you even notice?

The Truth About Cats and Dogs: Adventures in Puppy-sitting

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Are you a cat person or a dog person? Or both? (Or neither—no judgment.)

Here is our cat, five-year-old Lola, with her homemade "whack-a-mole" toy. No, she's not spoiled at all!

I’ve always been a cat person, but I’ve fallen in love with my share of (other people’s) dogs. Much to Kiddo’s delight, we are able to babysit a friend’s puppy last weekend, a miniature poodle/King Charles spaniel named Addison—Addie, for short. Addie is nine weeks old and about fifteen pounds. 

She is adorable.

Since cats, even as kittens, are fairly self-reliant, I was unprepared for much stuff Addie came with. There was the crate, the travel crate, the food and water bowls, the kibble, the blanket, the toys, the baby safety gate…. This puppy travels with more luggage than Cher.

I was also not exactly cognizant of how many times Addie would need to go out. Every two hours, to be exact. And there were accidents. Yes, it was a lot like potty-training a toddler.

Addie also had separation anxiety. If one of us wasn’t in sight at all times, she began to cry. We set up her crate in Kiddo’s room, facing him so she could see him during the night.

Our cat, Lola, has met Addie before, and has basically ignored her. This time, though, when Addie didn’t leave, she got a bit more territorial, starting down at Addie from high places, ignoring the little wagging tail and pleading yaps for friendship.

At the end of the weekend, Kiddo absolutely wanted a dog—aaaaand Noel and I weren’t so sure. We’d done the baby thing once—and that was enough. Addie is adorable, but at this point, we’re delighted to be doggie godparents, called on for the odd weekend. And yet—yet—I find myself online, researching hypoallergenic dogs, such as poodles and Portuguese water dogs….

Reds, are you dog people or cat people? 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, we are both, have always been both, at least as adults. Neither Rick's mom or mine liked cats, so we didn't grow up with them. One of my first out-of-the-house gestures of independence was the acquisition of a kitten (who turned out to be THE CAT FROM HELL, by the way.) Kiddo is the perfect age for a dog, such fun, such great bonding, and such emotional support for those trying pre-teen years.

I have to admit that puppies are a lot of trouble, but they grow up so fast, and they are so worth the time and work. We have a houseful of cats and dogs now, with the two German shepherds (who are two and almost four) and three cats. It is the cats who are sometimes guilty of unspeakable behavior, not the dogs!

HALLIE EPHRON: Susan, that one doggie sounds like it's got as much paraphernalia as a baby. 

I like other people's pets, though I was mad about our two (then three, then briefly four... it's easy to find strays in NYC apartment building basements) cats. Eloise and Soot looked remarkably like my daughter Molly's current cats, Alistair and Bernice. Eloise was a muscular black and white male (we found out too late to change the name) who hated most everyone but us. As I unlocked our apartment door Eloise would meow from the other side, and when I got in an bent to pet her she'd jump up on my shoulder. We kept her in the bedroom during parties; if she got out she'd make a bee-line for the most cat-averse person in the room. We would have kept them but I'm allergic and ended up hospitalized. 

LUCY BURDETTE: Two paws firmly in each camp! (And as an aside, Addison/Addie is the name of the character I'm currently writing--a girl, not a dog.)

We had German shepherds growing up--they were not technically my dogs, but family dogs. (And unfortunately not very well trained.) My mom was animal crazy so we also had cats, mice, guinea pigs--any creature we wanted really, except for reptiles or birds. When I turned 13, I desperately wanted my own cat. January in Detroit is not kitten season at all. But my mother prevailed and found a yellow tiger in the Detroit pound. He'd already been turned back in once, so the three dollar receipt was stamped NO REFUND. That little yellow terror became Tigger, the first in a long line of cats leading to my current oldster, Yoda. We are also on our second Australian shepherd, Tonka. He is so mine--ask Hallie. He follows me everywhere and watches me very carefully. John sometimes forgets we have a dog, because he's always by my side. And there is the difference between cats and dogs in a nutshell--one you can always find, the other you have to hunt down and reach out. And I love them both!

RHYS BOWEN: Adore them both! Unfortunately we travel so much that having an animal isn't practical. I refuse to become one of those annoying women who brings a dog on the plane with them in the guise of therapy/comfort animal. One was in the seat behind me on Sunday and it let out the most overwhelming farts (unless that was the woman herself, but I don't think so). Growing up we always had dogs including a bull terrier and my favorite, a dachshund who understood every word we said. But when our kids were growing up we had Marmalade, a big ginger cat who was dog-like. He'd walk the kids to school, come running back when he heard my car, sit up and beg and want to join in every family activity, especially lying sprawled across the board of any board game we were trying to play. Such a people cat! I still miss him.

Cats and dogs automatically like me, including my daughter's cat Cupcake, who attacks most people and has fought off a pack of coyotes. If I sit down at her house the cat finds me and sprawls with a contented sigh onto my lap. And I do get to be dog-grandma to Sunny and Oscar, which is always lovely.  If I travel less in the future I fantasize about having a little dog--a Yorkie, maybe. But John likes only big dogs, so.....

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Well, growing up we had both: Irish Setters named Penny, and Rusty, and Roderick St. John Erin Sean, as we got more original-ish. Cats? Mrs. Purdy, and Picnic, Rosemary, and F.Scott and Zelda, who were Rosemary's babies.  I've only had cats, since, like Rhys, my career just wouldn't allow dogs. As you know, we have an invisible dog, a very lovely Wheaten Terrier named Wheatie. Being invisible, she is very easy to care for.

I will never be able to top my two cats: the incredible Lola, who I got in 1978 at the humane society. She died in 1998. And as you can see here, adored Jonathan. Who is, as Lola well knew, deathly allergic to cats.

And here is my adorable Leon, who lived to be 14. Those two lived together for 14 years, and NEVER acknowledged the other's existence.

SO anyway. We couldn't possibly have a real dog. EXCEPT the other day I say a Llewellin setter puppy, and just about swiped it from the owner.

RHYS: Hank, we also had a dog called St John. An English setter, so beautiful but so dumb. The most untrainable dog ever. Alas, we had to find him a home on a farm as he kept escaping.  

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Lucy—the late, great Xander was a cat who never left my side, much like your dog. I so miss that—Lola is delightful, but more independent. OK, I can't resist more pictures! Here is Lola looking down on Addie:

And here is Addie, looking up at Lola:

Lovely readers, are you cat people or dog people? Or both? Or neither? Tell us in the comments!