Duffy Brown's Blog: New Cozy Series - Posts Tagged "dogs"

Bruce Wills here. The other Bruce Willis with ears, wagging tail and daily yard-waterer in Iced Chiffon.
Have you ever noticed all the pets running around in cozies mysteries? And most of them are cats! What the heck? How did that happen? Does a cat greet you at the door, get your slippers, clean the kitchen floor after you spill the bacon and eggs? No! Cats sniff, turn up their nose and prance off. Dogs have owners, Cats have staff!

Once upon a time I didn’t have such a great life so I ran away and took up living under Reagan Summerside’s front porch. Don’t know why I chose her. Maybe because at the time Reagan’s life in Savannah sucked almost as much as mine.
But she’s an okay gal, even shared her McNuggets and fries with me but kept the martinis all to herself. I mean to tell you I could do with a martini or two on these hot summer nights.

Reagan has a consignment shop on the first floor of her half-restored Victorian. She and her Auntie KiKi who lives next door were going to name me Calvin Klein to fit in with the upscale clothes she takes in. One look at my mangled left ear, crooked tail and scared snout not to mention my questionable linage and they knew I was much better suited as Bruce Willis.

Life is good right now. Reagan says I’m the worse watchdog on the planet but I sure do make a lot of friends. If I fake a limp I can usually finesse a cookie or two from the customers and if I sit in front of the fridge long enough I get my daily dog…hot dog that is. The warm fall days here in Savannah are just made for me snoozing on the porch and one day I can get a slurp of Reagan’s peach martini.

So what is your opinion on pets in mysteries? Paw up or down? Do they distract too much from the mystery? Do you like it when they have a point of view? Do you like cats or dogs best in a book? (That’s spelled d-o-g)

Pets are the best like I said in my last blog post! They are our constant companions. They love us when we’re bitchy and in our sloppy PJs with no hair combed and when we have the flu. And they train us really well.
Here I thought we were supposed to train them! Ha!

Pet joke: What side of the door does the cat like to be on? The other side. That’s why I jump up and down the whole blasted night while trying to watch TV to let my cat in and out of the porch. Am I a well trained owner or what!

Then there’s the food issue. Every three days I bake my cat chicken thighs. Not breasts or legs or wings...but thighs. Then cut into small pieces and served room temp. Not cold and not hot.

And then we have the water glass issue. Know that snotty white cat on TV who eats his kibble out of a crystal glass...that’s my cat’s water bowl. Good grief.

I have two cats, Spooky and Dr. Watson. Dr. Watson was supposed to be for my son, a gift from my daughter. Yeah, right. We all know how the pet for the sibling thing works...parents get the pet! And I got Spooky out of the grocery store parking lot. He was living in the cart area. I herd this pitiful meow and suddenly had a new cat in my life.

If I didn’t have cats I’d have a dog. I know they are more work but they are always happy. Something about a wagging tail will cure any depression, a gift from the pet gods. I have a dog...the other Bruce Willis...in my Consignment Shop mystery series.

In Geared for the Grave there are two cats, Bambino and Cleveland. Here’s a little about Bambino:

I dropped my duffle and snagged a cue, aimed for the far pocket and sailed the yellow-striped ball across the felt till Rudy plucked it right off the table. “Hey, why’d you do that? I nailed that shot.”
Rudy scooped his hand into the pocket, dragging out a sleepy black and white kitten. “Bambino hangs out there, left pocket’s off limits.” Rudy balanced on one crutch--he was a one-crutch kind of guy. “So, Chicago, what brings a pool shark to my doorstep this time of night?”


Tell me about your pet. Where does he hang out? How does he have you trained? I’ll give away two Geared for the Grave totes from the answers.

Have a meowing-good day.
Duffy

Geared for the Grave
book one Cycle Path mysteries

We all do. The first thing you look at is the cover. Have you ever bought a book just because you like the cover? I sure have and I’ve put the book back because I didn’t like the cover. Guilty as charged!

So since covers matter and I sincerely think they do, what kind of cover on a book do you like best? Is there something that you see on the cover of a book that makes it an auto buy even before you read the back blurb? Is there something on the cover you see that will make you not buy the book?

I’m not into syfy or fantasy...except for Game of Thrones...so anything that has a dragon or alien or weird creature from out of space is a turn off for me. Ghosts are okay. Not an auto buy but a well written ghost can be a ton of fun, cause a bunch trouble and know things from the past that add to the book.
If there’s a creepy Victoria house that’s nice. A shack in the woods for me not so much. I don’t like to be scared to pieces and remote shacks sound like where kidnapped people are held. No way!
Anything with kids hurt or missing it out. I’m a mom and this is my worse nightmare. I don’t want to red a nightmare.

I like fun covers. If the book suggests fun and excitement I’m so in! I wanted a coffin sticking out of the back of Walker Boone’s ’57 Chevy red convertible for Lethal in Old Lace. Have Bruce Willis’s...the canine version...head perched over the seat. Trust me, it fits the story and who doesn’t want to ride in a ’57 Chevy dead or alive with our buddy BW.

This suggests fun and excitement and something a little different and totally Reagan and Auntie KiKi. I do have the new cover for Lethal in Old Lace and will do a big reveal in January. I love the new cover but the Chevy would have been nice too.

So the question is...what on the cover sells you on a book? I’ll giveaway a lighted pen and notepad from the answers.

Hugs,
Duffy

Reagan Summerside here and I think I’m losing my mind...bodies are going missing! How can this happen? I misplace stuff all the time like my keys and where the heck is my purse, I always misplace my purse—Old Yeller, big yellow plether thing that hold my life--but a body takes misplacing stuff to a whole new level.
It all started when I was cutting through a back alley to get to Walker Boone’s house. We just got engaged so I was taking a shortcut to get to his place fast. I would like to say I was in a hurry because I missed him and I did miss him but the fact is I had questions. I needed to know where were we going to live once we got married and who would do the cooking and what kind of toothpaste were we going to use? But that’s another issue and right now there’s a missing body.
When I was cutting thought the alley there was a white Caddy with a body in the back. At first I thought the person in the back was maybe a tired old soul needing a place to take a nap but no one sleeps with eyes open, right?
I would have stuck around to take a closer look but a big rat and bigger roach ganged up on me and I ran for it. When I bought Boone back to the car the body was gone.
Okay, this is all pretty bad but what makes the situation worse is that I know who owns the Caddy. It belongs to the Abbott sisters who live next door to me. They are adorable retired school teachers who supplement their income by being Savannah’s fave professional mourners. No one can get a funeral weeping like the sisters.

So what should I do? Call the cops? What if the sisters are responsible for that body? Then they’d be arrested and I can’t have my neighbors in jail now can I especially if they had a real good reason? Not neighborly at all. Should I just forget the whole thing like Boone suggests? He says I’m on dead-body overload from tripping across them all the time.
Got any suggestions? What would you do if you found a body and then it went missing? Here’s a recipe for one of Auntie KiKi’s martinis to help you find an answer.
Lethal In Old Lace
Consignment Shop Mysteries
Duffy Brown.

Auntie KiKi’s Death by Chocolate Martini
Chocolate martini for when you need both chocolate and a martini

1 1/2 ounces chocolate liqueur
1 1/2 ounces Creme de Cacao
1/2 ounce vanilla vodka
2 1/2 ounces half-and-half
chocolate syrup, for rim


Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake.
Pour into a chilled cocktail glass rimmed with chocolate syrup. Add cherry skewered on toothpick. Does that sound delicious or what!

I’m spotlighting one of my characters, Auntie KiKi from my Consignment Shop series. Auntie KiKi is the auntie we should all have in our lives. She’s a family-first kind of Southern gal, auntie to Reagan the main character in the series and leaps before she looks.

Auntie KiKi lives in a house that’s been in her husband’s family since before Sherman parked his unwelcome hide in Savannah. She teaches dancing so the young people of Savannah don’t look like idiots at their cotillion and so that the not so young can show off at their 50th anniversary party.

Auntie KiKi here in Savannah and as much as I hate to say it we’ve been getting more than our share of funerals lately.
Now I understand that we all got to go sometime and some sooner than others but being dead is no excuse for bad manners and that’s why I’m here to be setting things to rights.

First of all and most important you must always be keeping your “death-ready” pantry up to speed. The number of dishes (or grief therapy as I like to call it) brought to the grieving person’s house suggests your social standing in the community. Do you want to be last on that very list, well I should say not.

As soon as you get the call that Miss So-and-so is toes over there at the slumber house you need be rushing right over to the family with stuffed eggs, chicken salad, caramel cake and some pecan tassies. And everyone knows Pimiento cheese spread is the very paste that holds the South together through think and thin.

Remember that casseroles that contain cream of mushroom soup and Velveeta cheese are considered second tier presentations, but a can of cream of asparagus soup added elevates the dish to a higher status. And of course banana pudding is the Cadillac of southern desserts, so don’t be forgetting that.

And always remember it’s right important to refer to the deceased as successful, no matter how far from the actual truth that might be. The written description needs to include enough truth that the dead person is somewhat recognizable, but include enough flattery to please the grieving family and friends.

And of course you must encourage those relatives to attend who do the most carrying on. Someone discreetly weeping into a hankie just doesn't have the same appeal as multiple women screaming and throwing themselves onto the casket as it is being lowered into the ground. What good is a send-off unless it’s a mighty big one.

And as for the service…for heaven’s sake keep in mind that Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven is only appropriate for one of those Yankee funerals. In this part of the world Amazing Grace will do fine, thank you very much especially if there’s a martini two following right soon.

You all take care now, ya’ hear. Be sure to keep that death pantry stocked just in case and do let me know what’s your favorite dish to be sharing with your family and friends in these most unfortunate times.