Summertime and dog day afternoons

Barney, my Yorkshire Terror at Green Turtle Cay Today I want to write about dogs. It's now been 15 months since I adopted the Yorkshire Terror and he is just starting to get me trained. Barney has proven that while all dogs are trainable, it's possible that not all people are.

Thanks to my friend Neil Plakcy, I have learned that today, August 16 is St. Roch's Day – dedicated to the patron saint of dogs. Here's what Neil says: "To celebrate, I'm donating proceeds from three dog books through the weekend to ECAD, which provides service dogs to veterans and the disabled. http://mahubooks.blogspot.com/. One of the three is my first golden retriever mystery, IN DOG WE TRUST." Neil and I have been friends, grad students, critique partners and colleagues at work for more than 20 years. I love the character dog Rochester in his Golden Retriever mysteries and I recommend you give them a try. What better time than now when you will also be donating to a worthy charity.

Another writer and dog loving friend is Diane Capri. As you can see at the top of this page, my Barney is a Yorkshire Terror, and he is prone to wandering beaches and the decks of boats. Diane's dog, Miki, just above here, is a mini-schnauzer and she dresses far more stylishly than the Terror, and has better manners, too. You can learn more about Diane at her website dianecapri.com. Diane and I have also known each other for years, and we share many characteristics in addition to loving our dogs. We both write mystery/suspense/thrillers, we both live in Florida, and we both have series with kick-ass women characters. So, we came up with a brilliant idea. We decided to give readers a chance to try two Florida mystery series in one package.

And so was born our Double Feature, FLORIDA IS MURDER an ebook only boxed set which is now available for Kindle at the special introductory price of $4.99. You will get a chance to buy two full length novels, the first in two different Florida mystery series, for about the price of a bag of dog treats. And while Diane and I have a great deal in common, we are also very different. My protagonist is a tugboat driver and hers is a judge. My series takes place on Florida's east coast, while hers take place in Tampa on the west coast. My protagonist is single, hers is married. Seychelle has a one dog, Abaco, a black lab — while Willa has two labs, Harry and Bess. Harry's yellow and Bess is black. But as you can see, they both have labrador retrievers. Having lots in common as well as many differences accounts for why this friendship has lasted so long. Have you ever wondered what writers talk about over a glass of wine? Here's your chance to find out. As a Special Feature at the back of the book, we've included a conversation between us talking about our lives, dogs, writing and what some of the changes in publishing have meant to us. So, in honor of St. Roch's Day, these are my suggestions for ways to fill your summertime dog day afternoons.   Fair winds! Chris