By Elaine Viets
I’m writing a new mystery series set in South Florida. Here’s one of the hairiest problems I considered: did I want my protagonist to have a pet?
I like pets, and they’re popular with mystery readers. Especially cat and dog mysteries.
Many cozy readers are familiar with Laurie Cass’s Bookmobile Cat series. And that’s just the start of the good felines. There are series with Cat Cafes, Klepto Cats, Magical Cats, witches’ cats, library cats, bookstore cats and more.
Cats who talk and solve mysteries aren’t my cup of tea – my cats can’t even open a can of food for dinner. But what do I know? Readers love felines who can perform semi-human feats.
I could also give my new protagonist a dog. Dog mysteries are definite people pleasers. There’s a pack of them, including David Rosenfelt’s series, featuring work-avoiding, dog loving lawyer Andy Carpenter and his golden retriever, Tara.
Tara is a lovable companion. Other mystery series feature working dogs, such as FBI special agent Sara Driscoll and her search and rescue Labrador, Hawk.
Here are more good reasons to have pets in mysteries:
Walking a dog is a good way to meet people.
Animals are good judges of character. Dogs (and some cats) can rescue or defend you, warn you with a timely bark or hiss, even uncover a clue.
A pet in your mystery can be plus. Readers identify with pets. “Your cat reminds me of my orange tabby, Ginger. She loves to . . .”
But there are major downsides to consider. Pets need care. Your detective can’t be on the track of a killer and suddenly stop the investigation to make a phone call. (“Psst! Mark. I’m staking out the killer’s house. Will you walk my corgi? I just got a new living room rug.”)
Dogs also have to be fed and groomed. Cats are a little more easy care. Your detective can open a big bag of dry food and leave out a bowl of water, but sooner or later the litter box has to be cleaned.
Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series has a unique, easy-care animal, a hamster named Rex. Rex lives in a cage on her kitchen counter. Rex sleeps in a soup can and runs on his hamster wheel. Stephanie occasionally tosses him a grape for a treat.
But she’s such a good writer, Rex seems real. Once, some thugs held Rex for ransom, and I genuinely hoped the little critter would survive.
For this new series, I decided to go pet-free.
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Many authors love animals. Here are some quotes you may enjoy from the masters.
“Dogs are wise. They crawl away into a quiet corner and lick their wounds and do not rejoin the world until they are whole once more.” — Agatha Christie
“A boy can learn a lot from a dog: obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down.” — Robert Benchley
“A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones.” — Arthur Conan Doyle
“I would like to see anyone, prophet, king or God, convince a thousand cats to do the same thing at the same time.” — Neil Gaiman
“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.” — Ernest Hemingway
“Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are God. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are God.” — Christopher Hitchens
“Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one is a life diminished.” — Dean Koontz
“When you feel lousy, puppy therapy is indicated.” — Sarah Paretsky
“Everything I know I learned from dogs.” — Nora Roberts
“All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. For after all, he was only human. He wasn’t a dog.” — Charles M. Schulz
“Happiness is a warm puppy.” – Charles M. Schulz
“A dog…is a bond between strangers.” — John Steinbeck
“Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from the grocery store with the most amazing haul—chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth!” — Anne Tyler
“If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.” — Mark Twain
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.” — Mark Twain
“The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man’s.” — Mark Twain
And in case this sounds too sentimental, consider these words from Winston Churchill: “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
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They say dogs can tell a lot about someone and react accordingly.
My in-progress series MC/hero doesn’t have a pet because of his hours and such, though dogs do show up in his backstory.
His next-door neighbors – minor characters who make re-CUR-ring appearances – have an English Springer Spaniel who greets and treats said MC as if he were one of her owners (okay, one of her pets – because we all know who owns who, right?), and MC reacts accordingly to her jumps and licks and settling down next to him when on their back porch…
I think (hope), this conveys something about his character… which is what it’s intended to do…
Well, that’s a DOG GONE good idea, George.
I love critters. Since our life isn’t conducive to having a pet these days, I improvise. When I need a fix, I “rent” the neighbor’s dog. Go for a walk, play tug of war, rub tummy, scratch ears. Then back home to the owner who buys food and pays vet bills.
Neighborhood squirrels figured out we’re soft touches. Several climb the patio door screen to get my attention and take peanuts from my hand. Recently one was pregnant and has been AWOL for a week. I expect her back with some little screen-climbing trainees soon.
The lives of my series characters are too chaotic to take on the responsibility of a pet but I enjoy reading books with critters. Just finished beta-reading Leslie Budewitz’s upcoming cozy, Lavender Lies Bleeding and Arf, the gentlemanly Airedale, is a delight.
Elaine, maybe your new character can dog-sit once in a while.
Good solutions, Debbie. And readers, if you haven’t read Leslie’s books, you are in for a treat.
While I will miss Chateau Forest, I look forward to the next series.
For a while it was like you could not solve a mystery without a pet. I am partial to cats. They do have the advantage of being low maintenance. My oldest child’s apartment building came with at least three feral cats. The cats hung out by the dumpsters.
When my brother’s dog died, he started volunteering with Stray Rescue St. Louis. He has been a volunteer for over 20 years now. They and the dogs love him. He walks the larger and “problem” dogs.
The one advantage of a new pet free series is the new crime solver can always get a pet or foster care for one.
Angela isn’t gone for good, Alan. My editor wanted me to try a Florida series
Volunteering at a local shelter is a good solution when my character needs a pet fix.
Was it Tony Hillerman who said if there’s a dog in the hero’s back seat, there better be a reason for it? Most of my stories have dogs and/or cats. My readers love animals. But I also find they figure greatly in signaling who the character is. They can also be another character in the story. In With All Her Heart, which debuts in January, the hero is extremely shy, an introvert. His best friend is his dog Slowpoke. Elijah bounces ideas off him and Slowpoke gives him the courage to follow his dreams. And you can have fun with animals. In one story a chicken wouldn’t leave the heroine alone when she was trying to make an important phone call in the phone shack. My biggest problem with animals is remembering to bring them along for the ride. It’ll be chapter 15, and I’ll suddenly realize little hound hasn’t been seen since chapter 5 . . . . .
I have the same problem with cars, Kelly. My MC will drive to a place and then walk home. It’s a little more serious to leave an animal behind.
I love pets. We’re currently without any— our cat Mittens passed away in March after a very long life. As someone said, pets will give you the best days of your life and the single worse one, but truly the good far outweighs that. The bond is deep.
So, it’s fitting that pets can play an important role in mysteries. It doesn’t have to be directly solving a mystery of course, but grounding the sleuth and giving them something else to focus on can be helping in solving mysteries. Plus, it shows the character’s caring side, and lightens things up. I still smile when I think of Columbo’s basset hound pet “Dog.”
My second Meg Booker 1980s library cozy mystery, Book Drop Dead introduces an orphaned orange tabby kitten on the first page. Meg doesn’t have time for a pet, but how can she say no to a kitten in need of home?
My condolences on the loss of Mittens, Dale. Our pets leave their paw prints on our hearts. I’m a big fan of Columbo and “Dog.”
Love this, Elaine! Being a dog and cat lover, I totally identify with and understand the quotes included in this post.
Especially the one about dogs thinking we’re God, and cats thinking they are. 🙂
Grew up with dogs and cats, and we still have our 10-year-old Hoka, the smartest dog in the universe. When I can’t think of what should come next, I take her outside on our five acres and watch her smell stuff. Works every time.
Thanks for the smiles this morning!
Hoka sounds like a good collaborator, Deb.
I have pets in my stories, but they’re not major players and they don’t solve mysteries. However, they do account for some interesting scenes. Barkley, the border collie, has a dust-up with a rattlesnake. Fiddlesticks the cat disdains contact with most humans, but finds a BFF in a horse. And Old Dan the massive gelding saves his owner from certain death.
I’ll be on the Cozy Mystery panel at Killer Nashville this year. It looks like most of my fellow panelists write stories featuring cute animals. I’m looking forward to meeting them and hearing what they have to say.
You have three good animal sidekicks, Kay.
Have fun at Killer Nashville.
Great post, Elaine. All my stories have animals and/or pets in them, because I can’t imagine a world without them in it. They enrich storylines, IMO, and can offer comic relief, fear, even danger.
All true, Sue. Pets add depth and humor, and possible plot points. Once I get this series going, I can always add an animal.
I am an animal rescuer. All my animals were rescued and every last one of them have shown their appreciation in one way or anther. Too bad humans don’t learn from them.
Using them in books adds to the books and you don’t need to give them any semi-human powers. Just show that dog who wiggles in excitement when you return home, or the cat that let’s you know that you forgot to feed him but will curl up on your lap, accepting that you are there and are their human.
I can’t imagine a life without pets of some sort and have used them in several books.
Thank you, Barbara, for rescuing those animals. I have rescue cats and my life would be much poorer without them. Keep up the good work — for the animals and humans.
Luv the Corgi on your opening pic, Elaine. We had one of those guys for fifteen years, and that little cattler herder was a diamond far above the rough.
You and Queen Elizabeth, Garry. She loved corgis.