Whether it’s a clever cat, delightful dog, or rambunctious rodent, our pet project is rooting for and fawning over pets of all kinds. Today we’re talking about some of our favorite furry friends–in books and in life.

Lisa Q. Mathews

Well, first I need to give a shout-out to my real-life pets. Farley is a big-boned blond golden named for larger-than-life comedian Chris Farley. (Also Marley of book and movie fame, with an F.) My lucky black cat Lucy prefers “Kitty.” In my Irish Bed & Breakfast Mysteries, the Buckleys adopt a senior golden named (Irish) Rover, whom they soon find out lives up to his name. They also have a former Brooklyn street cat named Banshee. But celebrated in my Ladies Smythe & Westin series is Mr. Bitey, based on a cat belonging to one of my daughter’s college friends. Whenever the friend was away, my daughter looked in on Bitey, who wasn’t terribly appreciative (she, too, lived up to her name). In Ladies, my older sleuth Dorothy takes in a demanding male cat when a woman in her building moves into memory care. (The rescue organization refused to take him.) Mr. Bitey is not fond of my younger sleuth, Summer, and poor Dorothy has to shut the cat into another room when Summer’s there. Unfortunately, she can’t always find him, as he lurks behind drapes and on top of bookcases and who-knows-where. The real Bitey is still very much alive (Colorado, you’ve been warned–she’s still wanted back in NYC!). Every year, she stars in her owners’ holiday cards, wearing elaborate costumes. How they get her into them remains a mystery.

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 Ellen Byron

I’ve immortalized three out of four of our dogs in my series. Lucy is Gopher the basset hound in the Cajun Country Mysteries. He’s a regular but both Wiley and Pogo make guest appearances in books. I even commemorated my Nonna’s mutt in the Catering Hall Mysteries, along with the true story of how the dog once chased an intruder out of Nonna’s house, earning her undying love and a stream of homemade Italian food that sent him to an early, if happy, grave. (Don’t worry, Hero lives a very long life in my series!) Pogo, who is the dog of my heart and left a big old hole there, also gets a shout-out as one of Ricki’s two rescues in the Vintage Cookbook Mysteries. I’ve adored all our dogs but Pogo needed me so much that we developed a special bond. I think I’ll always grieve the little guy.

The only dog I’ve yet to write into a book is our newest addition, Cammie, who’s only been with us a year. But as I write this, I think it might be fun to give the Golden Motel a sock-stealing second rescue dog to keep Nugget company – or better yet, annoy him!

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Leslie Karst

My favorite fictional dog, paws-down, is Asta (whose real name was Skippy), from the Thin Man movies. A rascally pup with attitude, he stole every scene he was in. (Remember when Asta stole the clue in “After the Thin Man,” running around the dining room with it in his mouth, and by they time Nick and Nora wrestled it from him, it was mostly unreadable?)

And since I’m such a dog lover (most of you have met Ziggy, my rascally Jack Russell mix, on this page), I of course have had to give the protagonists of my mysteries dogs of their own. Sally inherits Buster–a rescue dog named after the SF Giants’ pitcher Buster Posey–when her Aunt Letta is found dead in book one of my Sally Solari Series, DYING FOR A TASTE. And–sneak preview!–in the forthcoming book two in my Orchid Isle Mysteries, WATERS OF DESTRUCTION, Valerie and Kristen will be adopting their own pooch, a so-called “poi dog” named Pua (which means “flower” in Hawaiian).

Let’s hear it for rascally dogs!

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Kathleen Valenti

I remember revealing that my series’ star pet would be a hamster named Miss Vanilla to a reader-friend. She took a beat then looked me straight in the eye. “Bold move,” she deadpanned.

This still makes me laugh. It was definitely an…um…unusual choice for a mystery. However, once I “knew” Constantine, I realized that Miss Vanilla would be the ideal four-legged sidekick for my quirky, true-to-himself character. I’ve long been a dog person–and I’ve been a cat person–but Miss Vanilla was my first rodent. Sure, she only lived on the page, but she was real to me. Except a lot easier to clean up after.

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Becky Clark

I come from a long line of dog lovers. My grandparents raised Boston terriers and I’ve heard many stories of my dad’s childhood pooch, Dipsy Doodle of Cheyenne … Dippy for short. I’ve shared my life with dogs beginning with Belle, a German shepherd so protective of my mom that they had to rehome her when I was a toddler. Belle, not my mom. Then came Misty, a white German shepherd we had to teach to climb stairs by bribing her with pork chops. Then Ginger, a golden retriever my oldest brother brought home on Christmas Eve because a girl was standing on a street corner in the snow with puppies in a box and Ginger was the only one left. He felt sorry for both of them. Funny thing was, my little sister, maybe 6 at the time, had written to Santa—unbeknownst to all of us—that she wanted a puppy. When we bought our first house, a woman I worked with was giving away puppies so we chose two rambunctious sisters. That’s how Smokey and Bandit came to join us. Smokey looked like a black lab, Bandit like a blue heeler. They were bookends, exactly alike in many ways, but polar opposites in others. One loved the leash, one didn’t. One barked at noises, one only barked on command. Both dumb enough to corner a skunk one night. Those are the dogs my kids grew up with. And then came Nala. She was my Navy son’s dog in Guam and he couldn’t keep her when he got sent to Bahrain, so she came to us and enriched our lives more than we could have imagined, even though we knew all those other perfect pups.

Nala has found her way into every animal in my books, whether dogs, cats, or even Fang the goldfish. She was the quirkiest girl on the planet and I’ll be mining her personality for the rest of my writing days!

I used to post conversations with her. “Hey, Nala …” My readers are always asking for more which breaks my heart and tickles me to death that she had so many fans. A friend of mine once told me, “I know two dogs: Lassie and Nala.”

After my dad died, I was cleaning out his files of speeches and short stories and was shocked and mortified to see one titled “Ladies I Have Loved.” Surprise! It was a speech he gave about his dogs. I guess I come by this honestly.

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Jennifer Chow

In my newest series, Magical Fortune Cookie Mysteries, there’s a special bunny called Whiskers. I also had a pet rabbit growing up; he was quite shy and not magical at all (I don’t think!). But my first pet love goes to the three chicks we owned (ah, the synchronicity of now being on Chicks on the Case).
Finally, for fictional pets, I delight in them all. However, I think interesting animals are a lot of fun (yay, Kathy!), and I enjoy the seagull in Bree Baker’s books. I also like the rare animals in Wendall Thomas’ series…

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Readers, tell us about a pet sidekick (or superhero) that you adore!