Goodreads asked Sherri Leimkuhler:

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Sherri Leimkuhler Hmmm, good question! I don't write mysteries but there are two incidents from childhood that might make for interesting plots . . .

One is the mysterious case of the rubber tree plant; one day most of the leaves from the bottom half of the plant were scattered on the floor around its pot. I think my little brother ripped the leaves off the plant. He claims I did it. Meanwhile, my parents would just look at each other and smile as my brother and I argued about it and assigned blame, as if they had a theory of their own. To this day, no one has ever fessed up to plucking the leaves from the plant.

The other--which is far less funny but still mysterious--is the case of our disappearing dog. He was a little Pomeranian named Bouncer and he had always been quirky. But, as he got older, his odd behavior got more pronounced. A few times, he escaped from the yard, so my dad added extra posts to block some of the gaps. Later, I was working with a group of classmates on a history assignment; we were making a video about the Roman Gods and Goddesses. Bouncer had a bit part in the video, appearing as a "she-wolf." When we watched the final video, there'd been a glitch in the tape and Bouncer was there for a moment, then gone the next, as if he just "disappeared" into thin air. But it was like the video had been a prophecy, because shortly afterward Bouncer disappeared for real. The fence was secure and the gates were closed but one day, he was just gone. He was elderly and my parents concluded that he had probably wandered off to die (which is not only a misconception, but also not very comforting). But we never did find out what happened to him.

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