Dog Mysteries

[This page is under construction. All text is in, but I’m still working on book covers with links.]

I write mysteries that have Chihuahuas, but of course I’m not the only mystery writer to feature dogs. Below is a list of mysteries that feature dogs. Cozy-Mystery.com also has a page dedicated to dog mysteries (read the comments on that page, because there are more dog mysteries mentioned there).

Listed in alphabetical order, by author’s last name. If you now of others I haven’t included, feel free to mention them in the comment section, at the bottom. Enjoy!

Donna Andrews

Donna says, “In my Meg Langslow series, Spike, aka the Small Evil One, is a  recurring canine character, and other dogs appear with great frequency. Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon features an office that welcomes employees’ dogs. Dancing dogs appear in Cockatiels at Seven. And in the upcoming The Real Macaw (due in July), Meg awakens to find her living room filled with dogs–along with cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, and the macaw of the title.”

Barbra Annino

Her book Opal Fire features a Great Dane.

Dorothy Bodoin

Dorothy says: “My Foxglove Corners cozy mysteries, eleven in number, feature Jennet Greenway and her collies. Jennet started with one collie and now has four.” Another Part of the Forest is her latest.

Sandra Carey Cody

Sandra says, “My latest book, By Whose Hand, has a protagonist who was abandoned in a laundry basket as an infant and was discovered as a result of a barking dog. Of course, she has a dog which she dearly loves and who is an important character in the book.”

Krista Davis

Krista, author of the Domestic Diva mysteries, says, “What’s a domestic diva  without a dog? Daisy, a mixed breed hound, often helps Sophie sleuth. Walking the dog is such a great excuse to snoop. : ) Sophie’s best friend is into animal rescue. Consequently, almost every book involves an additional dog or cat (in
one case a bird) in need of a home.

Carola Dunn

Carola says: “The protagonist of my Cornish Mysteries, Eleanor Trewynn, has a West Highland Terrier, Teazle, who goes everywhere with her and was first to find the body in the first book, Manna from Hades.

Nana, the mutt in Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple series, has found both bodies and clues, though she doesn’t appear in every book. She plays an important part in Mistletoe and Murder and Black Ship, and appears in several others.”

Kate George

Kate says, “While my Bree MacGowan(*Moonlighting in Vermont* and *California Schemin’*) mysteries are a little too far over the no sex, no violence line to be considered cozies, they do feature dogs!

Moonlighting in Vermont – Bree MacGowan owns four dogs.
California Schemin’ – Bree’s dogs, and a pair of intrepid corgis are
featured. I’m definitely dog people!”

Margaret Koch

Margaret, author of the Barb Stark mysteries, says, “My series has a big dog named Malcolm.  He’s not able to do undoglike things, but he’s a great  character.  He doesn’t appear until the end of the second book, CAMP SOUL, but he’s important to the third and fourth.

Linda Kucupek

Linda says, “Deadly Dues ((TouchWood Editions, 2010) the first book in my Lulu Malone mystery series, has two leading characters, Lulu (an actor) and her former television co-star, a gigantic sheepdog called Horatio. Horatio, of course, doesn’t have much dialogue, but he has lots of personality and is very important to the plot.”

Diane Gilbert Madsen

Diane says, “My DD McGil Litrerati Mystery series – A Cadger’s Curse,  Hunting for Hemingway and The Conan Doyle Notes – has a domesticated wolf, Wolfie by name, as an on-going character and canine detective. After all, Wolves are Canis lupus and dogs are Canis lupus familiaris.” [Esri’s note: I’m not going to argue with taxonomy.]

Sandra Parshall

Sandra says, “My book Under the Dog Star, coming Sept 1, is all about dogs — abandoned dogs, rescued dogs, dogs used in fighting. (But I don’t show any actual dogfights in progress, so don’t be afraid to read it.)

Because my protagonist Rachel Goddard is a veterinarian, I always have animals in my books, although they aren’t cozy mysteries by any means. My other protagonist, sheriff’s deputy Tom Bridger, has a bulldog named Billy Bob he inherited from his father.”

David Rosenfelt

David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter series (Open and Shut, First Degree, Bury the Lead, Play Dead, New Tricks) that feature attorney Andy Carpenter, his Golden Retriever, Tara, and the Tara Foundation, a rescue group that he in real life he and his wife started.

Tom Schrek

His Duffy Dombrowski series features Al, the Basset Hound.

Clea Simon

Clea says: “My mystery DOGS DON’T LIE (Poisoned Pen) features a rescue dog accused of killing his person. It’s the first in the Pru Marlowe pet noir series. Pru is an animal psychic and while her sidekick is a grouchy tabby named Wallis, an opinionated bichon frise named Growler will be a constant in the series, too.”

If you know of a dog-themed mystery series that’s not on this page or the Cozy-Mystery page, tell me in the comments. Thanks!