The Smiling Dogs Are Here
My first healing fiction is published
I have a coffee ritual every morning—though maybe you’d call it a routine. I begin with filtered water and the ground coffee I’m currently using. Sometimes it’s Mexican, sometimes mocha or cinnamon, but always flavored in some way. While the coffee’s brewing, I heat up a Coca-Cola glass of milk in the microwave.
One day while I was walking the dogs I found a brand-new 16-ounce Starbucks tumbler in the middle of the street. I add hot chocolate powder to it (maybe Land O Lakes raspberry) then two tablespoons of unsweetened dark chocolate powder. Pour in the milk and coffee and add a glug of raspberry syrup. Top it with frothed milk, flavored whipped cream and a swirl of chocolate syrup.
(Why is there a duck in my coffee cup? Because today is National Rubber Duck Day!)
I know, sounds like a lot of sugar, right? But it keeps me fueled for my morning writing session. This love affair with coffee inspired my new series, The Smiling Dog Café. In November, I read an article in the New York Times about a genre called Japanese Healing Fiction, and it was as if a bell rang deep in my chest.
I used that experience as one of the pillars I created to use in guiding my goals for 2025—head and heart. Any books that I write this year will have to be guided by both. My heart has to want to write the story, and my head has to say I can sell it.
My golden retriever mysteries sell better, by far, than anything else I write. I hope that I’ll be able to translate the charm and warmth of those books into The Smiling Dog Café, because I really enjoyed writing the first two novellas.
My deep experience with cozy mysteries led me to begin with a character who is at a turning point—within the space of a few days, Jeff Hodges has lost his apartment and his job, and his girlfriend has left him because of his inability to express his emotions. From his low point, Jeff can only go up.
But overcoming a lifetime of silence, engrained in him by a difficult childhood, isn’t an easy process. I gave him a spirit guide, a knowing golden retriever named Cooper, who leads him to The Smiling Dog Café, where Betty’s coffee will bring back memories and show him the way forward.
The same is true for Sophia Greenwood. With a husband working overseas, she’s essentially a single mom to her eight-year-old daughter—who is suddenly diagnosed with the same heart ailment that killed Sophia’s mother. On her own, with her daughter in a hospital bed hooked up to machinery, a different dog arrives. Kiyomi is a three-legged Irish Setter whose mission is to show those who think they’re not perfect that they are just fine the way they are.
There are more dogs to come in the series. Duke the German shepherd brings people who need to overcome difficulties in life. Molly the Labrador retriever lost her littermate as a puppy, and her mission is to reunite siblings. Archie the crop-eared pug specializes in creative types who have lost their mojo.
I’m looking forward to writing about all of these dogs, so I hope that the stories of Cooper and Kiyomi will inspire readers, and help them heal in the ways that they need.
Here’s the link to purchase the book from Amazon in e-book and print, as well as to order the print book from Barnes & Noble. To take advantage of the Kindle Unlimited program, the e-book will only be available at Amazon for ninety days. When it’s at other retailers, I’ll let you know.
I hope the new year brings you health and healing!
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