You’ve still got time to enter my giveaway chance to win one of my books. I said the way to enter in my last post was to name one of my books that had a dog or cat character or the name of the dog or cat. Thanks to those of you who have entered. I’ve been a little surprised by some of your comments. For one, Jasper, Michael’s dog in the Hidden Springs mysteries who didn’t play a huge part in any of the stories but was on scene with Michael, has been mentioned twice. I liked Jasper and he did get in on the action some in Murder Comes by Mail, but I wasn’t expecting his name to be one readers remembered.
To top that off, a couple of you did remember cats from those Hidden Springs mysteries. That wasn’t as surprising since they were on the covers. Grimalkin, Aunt Lindy’s cat that was in all the books but played the biggest role in Hidden Springs 2, Murder Comes by Mail, got a featured spot on top the mailbox on the cover. Loved the color of Grimalkin’s eyes and the best- not-bother-me look on her face. Grimalkin was not a cat to be messed with.
Miss Marble from Murder is No Accident also got a mention and made the cover. She did make some appearances at strategic times in the story. Do you remember the name of the cat on the cover of the first Hidden Springs mystery, Murder at the Courthouse? He started the cats on the covers, but nobody has mentioned the barbershop cat yet.
A couple of you also mentioned Zebedee, the answer to Jocie’s dog prayer in the Heart of Hollyhill books. He played an important part in one of the pivotal scenes in Scent of Lilacs, but he didn’t make the cover. When I look at that cover now, I think a dog on the porch steps below her while she’s reading would have been great.
I did get a dog on the cover of one of my books, These Healing Hills. That was the dog character I thought more of you would remember, and Sarge did finally get a mention. He was a great character in that story. His picture is up top. I had never enlarged the picture to get a better look at him until tonight. The cover designers got a perfect dog to be Sarge. He looks a little rough the way a mountain dog should and intensely ready to please my nurse midwife, Francine. One of his claims to fame was killing snakes which was much appreciated by Francine.
But the other claim to fame for Sarge was how he kindled some romantic sparks in the story. Ben tried to tell himself he was just giving Francine the dog because the poor guy needed a home and she needed protection on the trails, but something more was stirring in his heart. Here’s a bit of the scene where Ben first meets the dog and decides to give him to Francine.
This other one, the sweet dog looking at him with dark yearning eyes, he didn’t intend to keep. He knew the perfect person for him.
The dog stuck his head out the window to let the wind brush his fur back. A person didn’t have to be mountain to appreciate a mountain dog. Ben tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and began humming. It took a minute for him to realize what he was humming. That silly song he’d heard Francine singing with Becca and Sadie. Froggie went a courting.
He shook his head. He wasn’t a frog and he wasn’t going courting. He was just giving this dog that needed a home to somebody who needed a dog. Besides, he remembered that song from when his grandmother sang it to him. That courting frog got eaten by a duck.
Finally here’s an animal on the cover of one of my books for middle readers. Discovery at Coyote Point is out of print now, but copies still float around on the internet. In the story, my young character makes friends with a coyote.
As best I remember – I wrote that story a long time ago – the coyote doesn’t have a name, but it did make the cover of the book.
You can still enter the giveaway to have the chance to win a book. Deadline to enter is midnight EST on Saturday, February 27, 2021. You have to be at least 18 years old to enter. Just leave a comment about one of the dogs or cats in my stories to be entered.
Can you name a dog or cat character from any of my books (or name the title) that I didn’t mention? Or you can just comment on one of them I mention here.
A new comment on this post will get those of you who commented on the previous post another entry. It’s always fun hearing from you all.
Comments 14
I thought Sarge was a great dog. Adding pets to a story makes for good reading.
Author
I agree, Ola. Completely. I’m always glad when I can work a few pets into my stories.
I loved These Healing Hills and Sarge. He was a wonderful companion!
Author
Sarge was a great dog character, Kathy. He was inspired by a nurse midwife’s dog that I read about in my research about the Frontier nurses. One of the midwives had a dog that she credited with saving her life a couple of times as she rode up into the mountains to deliver babies. Once he stopped in front of her and wouldn’t let her horse pass on the trail. A few minutes later there was a rock slide in front of her on the trail. So that’s the dog that I imagined when I came up with Sarge.
Angel Sister has a 🐕 that is very smart!
Author
So fun that you checked out my post here after my visit at the library today, Melinda. Thank you for that. I hadn’t even thought about sweet hound dog Poe until Tracy mentioned him to me today when I talked about the giveaway I have going here. Poe was a pretty neat dog. Graham, his owner, was a fun character too. But definitely Angel Sister did have a dog character.
I loved reading about Sarge in These Healing Hills! Such a sweet dog, except to snakes! Sarge the snake killer! Francine was kept safe!
Author
That idea came straight from my research into the Frontier Nurses, Lauren. Not the romantic gift of a dog to a nurse, but a nurse was given a dog to keep snakes from making her horse skittish as she rode along the mountain trails. Plus the nurse midwives were recruited with the promise of their own horse and dog along with the chance to save children’s lives.
I can provide you with a good name for a cat for a mystery book. “Twinkle Toes”
You know how cats sneak up on you & they are usually quiet.
Thanks for asking for suggestions. Always keep writing great books. We love them. Be Thankful in All things! I’m grateful for you.
Author
Twinkle Toes would be an interesting name, Betty. Certainly wouldn’t apply to my dog, Frankie. You should have heard him thundering through that icy snow layer last week.
So sweet of you to be so encouraging about my writing. That’s much appreciated.
I wish I could say that I remembered all the cats and dogs from your books! 🙁 And as far as seeing the ones on the covers -most I read on my Kindle. From now on I am going to pay more attention to the animals in all the books I read. The only animal that stands out in the books I’ve read is in the Library Mysteries by Eva Gates and that’s because he was in almost every scene! 😊 Very enjoyable series that I think you would like. Also writes under a pseudonym—Vicki Delaney. Another neat series of Mysteries-titles are takeoffs on Christmas Carols—Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen, etc.
Author
Those cozy type mysteries always have some animal characters around, Karen. I think I should write some more of them with dog helper characters instead of cats just for fun. But cats do seem to end up helping amateur detectives out in those stories.
That’s a neat title – Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen. Very clever.
Since I haven’t read all your earlier books, I don’t know about the dog and cat characters in them. But I did read An Appalachian Summer when it came out and loved that the horses were so well cared for, and a dog was a loving supportive character. After all, dogs are loving and supportive. God seems to have made them that way.
Author
I hope you’ll give some of my earlier books a try, Suzanne, to meet some of those other dog and cat characters. I did have a good time naming the horse characters in An Appalachian Summer.