Get Fluffy meets Fifty Shades of Greyhound ! Writers and Other Animals...

Today I'm delighted to welcome authors Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter to my blog. They write books with such pet-themed titles as: Desperate Housedogs, Get Fluffy, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, Yip/Tuck, Fifty Shades of Greyhound, and The Girl with the Dachshund Tattoo ! Irresistable!   And they've brought with their wonderful pets here with them today, to help tell us about...

Writers and Other Animals

We write a pet-themed mystery series and we belong to a Facebook group of authors who write books with animals in them. All the stories are different, but what we have in common is our love of animals. We can’t speak to why the others chose to include animals in their stories, but we will share our own story of how we came to write mysteries with names like: Desperate Housedogs and Yip/Tuck. Or our latest, Downton Tabby.

1. Pet Love When we were told our cozy mystery needed to have a “theme” we realized that if we were going to do a series, it should be around something we felt passionate about. Cooking? No. Crafts? No. Our families? Yes, but we didn’t think we should kill them - even if was just in a book. Though, there are days… Then, it hit us. We are crazy about our rescue pets! So, we decided to incorporate people and their love for their pets into our mysteries.

2. Character Insights You’ve heard the quote that says, “We can judge the heart of man by his treatment of animals.” Well, it’s very true. How someone interacts with an animal reveals a lot about that person and we love to use that to give readers insights into the characters in our stories.   

3.  Comic Relief Part of what keeps us turning the pages of a book, whether a cozy, a thriller, or other types of fiction, is the pacing and tension. Having a misbehaving pooch or cuddly cat to break the tension can be great, but what’s even more fun is how we all behave when it comes to our furry family members.

4. Amateur Sleuthing In a mystery that features an amateur sleuth, there must be plenty of opportunity for sleuthing. We’ve chosen to use cousins who, through their professions (pet therapist & pet boutique owner), not only come in contact with a lot of pets, but also have a view into the lives of the people they come in contact with.

5. Common Ground. We’ve found that readers who have a love for our furry friends also enjoy the types of stories we write. This shared passion has brought us in contact with a wonderful group of readers and friends who love their pets and enjoy a light-hearted mystery.

Sparkle Abbey is the pseudonym of mystery authors Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter. They’ve chosen to use Sparkle Abbey as their pen name on this series because they liked the idea of combining the names of their two rescue pets – Sparkle (ML’s cat) and Abbey (Anita’s dog). The authors co-write the bestselling Pampered Pets Mystery Series which focuses on the wacky world of precious pedigrees, pampered pooches, and secrets in posh Laguna Beach, California. The main characters and amateur sleuths are Texas cousins, Carolina Lamont, a pet therapist, and Melinda Langston, a pet boutique owner. The first books in the series, Desperate Housedogs, Get Fluffy, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, Yip/Tuck, Fifty Shades of Greyhound, and The Girl with the Dachshund Tattoo have received rave reviews. Midwest Book Review calls the series “A sassy and fun mystery!”

They love to hear from readers so stop by their website www.sparkleabbey.com or visit them on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/sparkleabbey to check out all their latest news.

Currently the Kindle versions of Sparkle Abbey’s backlist titles: Get Fluffy, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, and Yip/Tuck are on sale at the discounted price of $1.99. And the most recent titles, Fifty Shades of Greyhound and The Girl with the Dachshund Tattoo are on sale for $2.99.

The next installment, coming in June, is: Downton Tabby