I’m kind of a dog person, so when Peggy Gaffney offered to feature her dog show mysteries, I had to say yes. Here’s her take on them and what you can look forward to in her books.
As a writer, I often draw on real life. I have been showing purebred Samoyed show dogs for fifty years so when I write my series of suspense novels with a protagonist who is a knitting designer, (a career I once had) who also shows Samoyeds, I come prepared with many story ideas. The only major researching I do goes into the crime and the criminals as well as the operations of police, FBI, and other branches which fight crime.
Kate Killoy, my protagonist, draws many of her dog showing skills from my background. She shares my enjoyment of the sport of dogs including conformation, and obedience.
National Security takes place at the Samoyed club’s National Specialty, a week-long competition where exhibitors bring Samoyeds from all over the US and other countries to compete for best. Though the competition is fierce, the friendships formed among these dedicated dog breeders often last a lifetime.
The shows in recent years have had over 600 entries giving them a huge party-like feel with a lot of shedding dog hair. My job as a suspense author is to take this normally cheerful event and introduce a threat which could completely destroy it. Weaving the threat into the events surrounding the normal interaction between longtime dog show friends builds tension to the story broken occasionally by the dog’s antics.
The cast of characters includes Kate’s fiancé, Harry Foyle, a former FBI math genius with his own cybersecurity company, her great-aunt Maeve who though retired still occasionally works for Britain’s MI-5, her breeder friends, her math-loving family her former super-model cousin who has serious skills of her own and her very talented Samoyed Dillon.
My background gives the stories reality; pulling the reader inside the world of showdogs. The first book in the series is Fashion Goes to the Dogs involves mistaken identity and international intrigue in NYC during the dog show and the second Puppy Pursuit starts out as a simple trip to get a puppy but has our heroes running for their lives.
So if you like a suspenseful story and have always wondered about the people you see showing dogs on television, get the Kate Killoy Mysteries. They’re best read in order.
You can find out more about Peggy and where to buy her books at her website, www,peggygaffney.com.