Historical dogs--mysterious, romantic...
by Carola Dunn
Apart from a few years when I was first married and we kept
moving from rental to rental, I've always had dogs in my life, from the German
Shepherd, Wendell, who kept the District Nurse away from my pram to my present
companion, Trillian (border collie, probably, with a bit of black Lab?). Is it
any wonder that so many of my books have dogs who aren't merely present but are
characters and often an important part of the plot?
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| Trillian (A Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Universe reference? G) |
Nana (named after the dog in Peter Pan) enters my Daisy
Dalrymple mystery series, set in England in the 1920s, in the seventh book, Styx
and Stones. She's a farm-bred puppy of uncertain ancestry. At her first
appearance, she's car-sick, hardly surprising considering the state of rural
roads in 1923. However, she redeems herself in Mistletoe and Murder by
finding a clue. Unfortunately, just as the police are about to examine it, she
steals it back and runs off to rebury it. Dogs will be dogs.
Nana's big moment comes in Black Ship, when she
discovers a body in the bushes. She actually appears on the cover of the
book—not looking at all as I'd imagined her. The cover now adorns the e-book
edition, so I guess that's how she'll be for all eternity.
My other series, the Cornish Mysteries, set in 1970 or
thereabouts, has a permanent resident West Highland Terrier, Teazle. She's
modelled on my mother's last dog. So far she hasn't discovered any bodies, nor
starred on a cover, but she goes everywhere with my sleuth, Eleanor Trewynn.
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| The author, Carola, with Candy. |
Before I started to write mysteries, I wrote a large number
of Regencies. Needless to say, dogs were important in many of them. There was
Osa, in Angel, who saved her master from drowning; Curly, in The
Improper Governess, who not only had curly fur but kept a little boy warm
by curling up with him for the night when he ran away from home; Ragamuffin, in
the Tudor Signet; and in A Lord for Miss Larkin, large black
Midnight and small snow-white Flake, Goose, and Drop.
The only unpleasant canine character I ever created was
Mudge, a pug, in Mayhem and Miranda. He was a beastly little biter, but
he, too, had a major role to play. He not only saved his mistress from a
kidnapper, he brought the hero and heroine together.
I also wrote a dozen or so Regency novellas. Maera, large
and shaggy, was a major character in A Conformable Wife, now in the
e-collection A Second Spring.
Given my predilection for dogs, my reaction when asked to
write a novella about a kitten was predictable: Can't I make it a puppy?
"No," said my editor. "Kittens sell." So Wooing Mariana
(in My Dearest Valentine)* does indeed include a kitten, Pirate. Of
course, I sneaked a puppy, Lyuba, into the story as well. Kittens do indeed
"sell," especially in German translation!
(*Originally titled (by the publisher) A Kiss and a
Kitten, in the anthology Snowflake Kittens.)
There was one other memorable feline, a kitten in The
Road to Gretna. Lily was constantly getting into trouble, hardly surprising
as she was taken on a days-long carriage trip by her equally troublesome young
mistress.
But I'm a dog-person, and now it's time to give Trillian and
her visiting friend 'Oli their dinners.
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| Trillian's visiting friend, Oli. |
Thank you Carola, for such an animal friendly post. As you may have gathered I have a bit of a bias towards cats, but as you saw the light with your kitten books, I'm sure we can agree to differ!
If you would like to know more about Carola and her books please visit:
Grace x
