by Sparkle Abby
We write fiction. Cozy mysteries, no less. We
make that point because sometimes we have to remind ourselves.
We feel strongly about certain things, such
as pet rescue and that’s why we’ve chosen to write a mystery series that
focuses on animals. The series features two cousins, one a pet therapist and
the other, the owner of a pet boutique. So the animals are not simply sidekicks
in our books, they are truly the heart of the stories.
However, even though we write fiction we do
our very best due diligence to thoroughly research the information we intend to
use. As a result of that research we learn fascinating and sometimes disturbing
facts. That was the case with our most recent book, Fifty Shades of Greyhound.
Fascinating facts
The greyhound is one of the
oldest breeds. The source of the name is somewhat uncertain, but regardless of
its origin it has nothing to do with the greyhound’s color. Gray is actually
not a common color for greyhounds.
Each racing greyhound puppy is registered
with the National Greyhound Association (NGA) and tattooed with the pup’s birth
date (month and year) in the right ear and their litter number in the left. The
NGA keeps ownership records of all registered hounds and details about a
racer’s bloodlines.
Racing greyhounds aren’t used to being alone
because they’re housed with other racers during their career. They make excellent
companions and are very loyal and affectionate dogs.
Disturbing facts
Before the 1980s most greyhounds were put
down at the end of their racing career. (In recent years, thanks to the efforts
of people in the industry and dedicated rescue groups, there has been a
dramatic change. Tens of thousands are now adopted. However, more work remains
to be done.)
Most Greyhounds are at the
end of their racing careers at two to five years of age, but they still have a
lot of life to live. The average lifespan is twelve to fourteen years.
Greyhounds are sometimes
returned or surrendered because they have snapped or growled at a family
member. They are not aggressive dogs by nature but in their former life they
did not romp and play with humans. It may take some patience to help them adapt
to their new life.
Most retired racers have
never been to a park or inside a house. They often have to be taught how to
navigate stairs.
The more we researched the breed and talked
with people, the more strongly we felt there was a lot about greyhounds that
most people (us included) didn’t know.
But we write fiction. Entertaining,
lighthearted, fiction. Additionally with a mystery, it’s especially important
not to slow down the pacing and to make sure you don’t throw the reader out of
the story with large chunks of background. Writers often refer to that problem
as “info dump.” The approach we took in order to avoid “info dump” in Fifty
Shades of Greyhound was to slip in kibble-sized bits of what we’d learned.
At the opening gala, Caro (our pet therapist
amateur sleuth) notes the posters around the room with greyhound factoids. As
Caro visits the rescue group and some of the greyhound owners, we slip in a
little more info. What we hope is that we’ve not overloaded our readers with
facts, but rather that we’ve stirred their interest and then hopefully they’ll
want to find out more.
It’s also important to know which facts to
include and where in the storyline those tidbits work best. Often we fall in
love with a piece of research, but it doesn’t move the story forward, or add to
the understanding of the character, or feed the mystery. As much as we may want
to include that information, it just doesn’t fit.
It’s a balancing act, but we think it’s
working. We’ve had several emails from readers who’ve shared that they learned
a lot about greyhounds from our book. And a couple of emails from readers who
say their next rescue may be a greyhound.
What do you think? How much is too much info for
you? Are there particular books that you
feel do a great job with both educating and entertaining?
Please leave a comment. We’d love to send a
copy of Fifty Shades of Greyhound to someone! (We’ll randomly select a winner
after midnight.)
Sparkle
Abbey
is the pseudonym of mystery authors Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter. They write
the popular pet mystery series which features whodunits set in the wacky world
of pampered pets, precious pedigrees, and secrets. They chose to use Sparkle Abbey as the
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
first book in the series Desperate Housedogs, an Amazon Mystery
Series bestseller and Barnes & Noble Nook #1 bestseller, was followed by Get Fluffy, Kitty Kitty Bang Bang,
and Yip/Tuck. Fifty Shades of Greyhound is the latest in the series and
will be followed by The Girl with the
Dachshund Tattoo.
They love to hear from readers and can
be contacted via their website: www.sparkleabbey.com or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sparkleabbey
