Bow WOW! Mystery Dogs!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Hurray hurray, fireworks and champagne! We're celebrating like mad here in the jungle—flinging rose petals and confetti for the debut mystery of our dear darling talented wonderful Paula Munier. 

A BORROWING OF BONES is amazing. 

And so is Paula.

::pausing now while we all cheer::  

And what could make a terrific mystery even better? It co-stars a dog! Even better? TWO dogs.

I will say no more. Except bow WOW.

Curious Dogs and Mysterious Incidents

           By Paula Munier

“Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”

“To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”

“The dog did nothing in the night-time.”

“That was the curious incident,” remarked Sherlock Holmes.

Canines and crime fiction go together like, well, mystery and murder. When I wrote A

Borrowing of Bones, a mystery featuring Army MP Mercy Carr and bomb-sniffing Belgian shepherd Elvis and game warden Troy Warner and search-and-rescue Newfoundland-retriever-mix Susie Bear, I knew I was following in a rich tradition of dogs in mysteries.

Here are a few of the best:

Snap and Waggo

The first literary dogs I fell in love with were the dogs in the Bobbsey Twins books: Snap, the retired circus dog, and Waggo, the fox terrier. These were my first—and favorite—mysteries.  The Bobbsey twins had it all—a big family, lots of adventures, even Baked Alaska in one story—and a high-energy fox terrier and a circus dog full of tricks. Oh, to be a Bobbsey twin!

Togo

Nancy Drew had a dog, too, a terrier Togo. Nancy named him after the courageous sled dog who ran the lion’s share of the famous journey across the frozen tundra to Nome, Alaska with the serum the townspeople needed to survive the diphtheria epidemic. I know, I know, we all thought that was Balto, who gets most of the credit, as he ran the last lap of the trip. But Togo was the one who ran the longest leg of the relay by 200 miles and swam through the ice floes of Norton Sound to save his team and driver. Apparently the ever-clever Nancy knew all along.

Asta

I discovered Dashiell Hammett in my teens. I read all the books and stories and obsessed over them all. The Maltese Falcon, the most, despite the fact that there was no Asta. Which brings us to The Thin Man, Nick and Nora, and their beloved Schnauzer Asta. To me, Nick and Nora Charles were the epitome of high-society chic, and Asta was the epitome of canine-society chic. If she could talk, I knew she’d be as witty as Nick and Nora. And demand a martini immediately.

Pearl the Wonder Dog

By my twenties I’d discovered Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series. Boston, a tough-but-tender errant knight/private detective, an even tougher enigmatic sidekick, a sexy and smart shrink girlfriend, and a spoiled German short-haired pointer named Pearl the Wonder Dog. In real life, Bob loved his pointers, all named Pearl, and he immortalized them in his books as Pearl the Wonder Dog. A very writerly and gallant thing to do. Very Bob, very Spenser. All literary dogs should be so lucky.

Dog

In Craig Johnson’s Longmire series, the laconic hero Longmire is so laconic that his dog’s name is, well, Dog. In keeping with that, I’ll keep it short: Dog is a great dog. Period.

Henri

In her series Inspector Armand Gamache, Louise Penny has created a man of honor and humanity we readers love. So it’s no surprise that Gamache’s German shepherd is as wise and wonderful as he is. As Gamache puts it himself in How the Light Gets In:  “He realized Henri already knew all he’d ever need. He knew he was loved. And he knew how to love.”

Chet

The most engaging dog in crime fiction must be Chet, the K-9 school drop-out with the mismatched ears who becomes the smarter half of Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie series. I bought the first novel, Dog On It, at the New England Crime Bake and had Peter Abrahams aka Spencer Quinn sign it for me. I read it one snowy evening, and spent the winter reading all the rest of them. These stories are written from Chet’s point of view, a risky proposition that Peter pulls off with aplomb.

Which Brings Us Right Back to Sherlock Holmes

The most famous dog in crime fiction is the “spectral hound” in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles. This story scared me silly; I have Sherlock Holmes to thank for a still-real fear of a bloodhound-mastiff mix—not that I have ever run across one. (I also have Sherlock to blame for a still-real fear of snakes, but that’s another story.)

In my novel A BORROWING OF BONES, my hero dogs owe much to these literary dogs I’ve read and loved. Elvis is fierce and formidable; Susie Bear is friendly and faithful. Both are fun to write—and good at helping their humans solve the mystery and save the day.

Just like in real life.

HANK: Hurray! Oh, I said that. Anyway. (And I had no idea that was Nancy’s dog’s name. Huh.) ANYway. I’m madly in love with Asta, too, always have been. What about you, reds and readers? Who are your favorite literary dogs? And I’m awarding A BORROWING OF BONES to one lucky commenter!

Paula Munier is the author of the bestselling Plot Perfect, The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, Writing with Quiet Hands, and the acclaimed memoir Fixing Freddie. The first novel in her mystery series, A BORROWING OF BONES (Minotaur, 2018) was inspired by the hero working dogs she met through Mission K9 Rescue, her own Newfoundland-retriever-mix rescue Bear, and her lifelong passion for crime fiction. In her fabulous day job as Senior Literary Agent and Content Strategist for Talcott Notch Literary, she represents many great writers. Her specialties include crime fiction, women’s fiction, upmarket fiction, MG and crossover YA, high-concept SFF, and nonfiction. She lives in New England with her family, Bear, Freddie, and a tortie tabby named Ursula.