Mutt Mysteries

  C HAPTER O NE T he beach rental house called the Osprey’s Nest was full of summer guests and should have been full of laughter and music but it wasn’t. It was dead quiet. In fact, it looked a bit like Gettysburg the day after the battle. In the big central living room people lay on the floor, sprawled across sofas, slouched in leather recliners, and slumped over laptop computers with hands hovering over keyboards. Crumpled paper dotted the floor. Glasses of iced tea and bottles of beer sat forgotten on tables. Flip-flops were scattered randomly around the room, but the people weren’t dead. They were writers. They called themselves the Sand Fiddlers Writers Group and this was the week of their annual retreat. Sophie Perone, author of the popular Mysterious Gourmet books, had volunteered to do all the cooking and on this morning, Sophie had arranged her special cheese straws in tall glass tumblers and placed them all around the room so the writers could snack on them while the...

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<<with apologies to Forest Gump…>> Mutts are like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re gonna get. Over the course of our almost 40 years together, my husband and I have spun the roulette wheel of doggie DNA six times as we’ve welcomed “mutts” into our lives. Three were labeled Shepard/Husky mixes, one was a lab mix, one was a shepherd/Carolina dog mix, and one was straight up Heinz 57 (a Puerto Rican street dog with at least 57 breeds in his lineage.) Success ratio: 1 out of 6. Dog one was the truest to his cage tag of shepherd/husky mix. I suspect there were other breeds mixed in there, but those were his predominant size, color, and personality traits. So far so good. Dog two was not even close to the shepherd/husky mix the cardboard box at a South Carolina flea market promised. He topped out at a whopping 104 pounds. He had Doberman markings, but we never did figure out what the “big dog” cross was. And, um, let’s just same he didn’t have quite the IQ of ...

My Mutt Mystery novellas have starred a Jack Russell Terrier, a Rotteweiler, and an English bulldog as sidekicks. All have been great companions and have helped solved a crime or two. Darby, the JRT, in “Diggin’ up Dirt” in To Fetch a Thief , is based on my Jack, Disney. She and her brother are from the same litter. They’re ten, and still full of energy as ever. When it’s quiet with two Jacks, something is definitely up. My two like to dig in the back yard, especially if they hear moles and voles. One afternoon, I watched them dig out a mole, and it gave me the idea for a murder mystery. Darby helps her person find something spooky in the backyard of their new house. Mr. Oliver, in “The Fast and the Furriest” in To Fetch a Scoundrel , is a full grown, male Rottweiler who lives and works with his person at the fictional Amelia Speedway. He’s in charge of security, and he’s a big pussycat when he’s not on duty. Oliver returns for more adventures in “Wags to Riches” in the To Fetch a ...

We’ve never met a dog we didn’t love, and Mr. Belvedere is no exception. He is one of the starring mutts in To Fetch a Villain . He stopped by the blog today to chat with us about what he does when he's not chasing killers. Tell us your name, breed, and which story you appear in. My name is Mr. Belvedere, and I’m a one-hundred-and-forty-pound Great Dane. My mom Darby Moore and I share our killer adventure in the story “Ruff Day.” Give us four words that describe you and your personality. Cuddly. Gentle. Helpful. Hungry. Always hungry. What is your job in the story? I help out mom at our dog store, Ruff Day Doggie Boutique, greeting customers and carrying items to the counter for them when they are ready to check out. She say’s I’m her best employee, and I work for kibble. (A lot of kibble, to be sure, but she still thinks I’m a bargain.) Tell us about your favorite thing to do. Sit on mom’s lap while she pets me. But between you and me, she could do with a bigger lap. I don’t ...

Trey and Kim are two very smart and supportive Bichon Frise who steal the spotlight in Maria Hudgins’ story included our latest mutt mysteries anthology, To Fetch a Villain. They stopped by for a quick interview today.     Tell us about yourselves and your story.  Hi! I am Trey Chastain and I’m a Bichon Frise. This is my best friend, Kim, and she’s a Bichon, too. We both star in the story “At Your Service.” Give us four words that describe you and your personality. I’m Trey and I’ll go first. Four words? Only four? Okay. I am Smart. I am dependable. I am loyal. I am a born leader.       I’m Kim and I am not surprised that Trey had to go first. My four words would be: Determined, stubborn, pretty, and observant.   What is your job in the story? Kim’s former owner, an evil man named Claude Raper, kept her imprisoned in a puppy mill until she escaped. He’s following her and trying to kidnap her back. Our job is to be very observant and help our mo...

Cagney and Lacey, two oh-so-cute Yorkies, are the stars of Teresa Inge’s Mutt Mystery stories. They stopped by today for a quick interview. Tell us your name, breed, and which story you appear in? I’m Cagney. I’m Lacey. We are Yorkshire Terriers who appear in the Mutt Mysteries series, To Fetch a Thief, To Fetch a Scoundrel, To Fetch a Villain, and the upcoming To Fetch a Killer.   Give us four words that describe you and your personality? Curious. Nosey. Protectors. Inquiring.   What is your job in the story? We help our owner/mom Catt Ramsey solve crime and murder in each book. Since our mom has a knack for finding dead bodies, there’s no way we’ll let the killer get away with murder when we are on the case. We consider ourselves doggy detectives!   Tell us about your favorite thing to do? Walk on the Virginia Beach boardwalk with our mom and all the various dogs she walks each day with the Woof-Pack Dog Walkers. Since she always takes us with her, we ha...