Ten Things You Might Not Know About Sheila Boneham's Animals in Focus Mysteries

It's been a busy couple of weeks here in Animals in Focus Mystery Land. This morning I learned that Drop Dead on Recall, the first book in the series, has won this year's Maxwell Award for Fiction from the Dog Writers Association of America. The Money Bird, book #2, came out last September and has garnered excellent reviews, and book #3, Catwalk, is scheduled to  be released September 2014. And book #4, tentatively titled Shepherd's Crook, is underway. 

With all this going on, it occurs to me that it might be fun to share a few tidbits about the books. (Don't worry if you haven't read them -- no spoilers here!). I ran this post a few months ago in a different context, so if it looks familiar, you haven't lost your mind. But you could pass it on to your friends! 

So here we go....

1. The people in the books are not real people. Yes, yes, you're sure that person belongs to your dog-training or cat-fanciers' club, but s/he doesn't. Really. (Do be nice to me, though....)
2. The animals in the books are as real as can be! Now, this is fiction, so no one dog or cat or bird in the book is exactly like any one real-life dog or cat or bird. But Jay, the "protagdog," and Leo, the "leading cat," and all the others never do anything that I haven't seen or heard of an animal doing.
3. Janet MacPhail, who tells the tales, never intended to be an amateur sleuth. She was perfectly happy photographing animals, landscapes, and occasionally people, and wrestling with the challenges of being 50-something. But then people started dying....
4. Janet's dog Jay is an Australian Shepherd. Yes, Aussies really are that energetic and smart. Really. 

   

   My muses -- Australian Shepherd Jay (1997-2012) and
   Labrador Retriever Lily (lying on my feet as I type)
   
   

5. There are lots of retrievers in The Money Bird (2013). Retrievers come in many flavors, as you can see in the book -- Labrador, Golden, Chesapeake Bay, Flat-coated, Curly-coated, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling. Besides the "official" retrievers, there are other breeds designed to collect game birds from water and land. 
6. Winning in obedience competition really can come down to half points, as it does in Drop Dead on Recall (2012), and some people are very serious about training and winning. But I've never heard of anyone actually committing murder at an obedience trial. Still....
7. Dogs do not have a corner on exciting sports like agility. Wait 'til you see what Leo, Janet's cat, is up to in Catwalk! (But you do have to wait until September 2014. Sorry.)                                   

   

   My handsome Leo, one of the inspirations for Leo
   in the series (along with George, Malcolm, Kitty, Mary,
   Jean-Luc,Snoopy, Annie, Fred, & Simon).

   >^..^<

8. You younger readers - listen up! People in their 50s, 60s, 70s + really do have lives, complete with hopes and dreams, and physical, mental, and emotional activities of all kinds. So pay attention to Janet and her friends and lovers. (Woops! Just one of the latter at the moment!) You might learn something. 
9. I made up the endangered parrot species in The Money Bird, but a lot of real-life birds and animals are at risk from trafficking, habitat destruction, and other factors. My hope is that the limited information in the book will encourage people to learn more, and behave accordingly. Fiction is more than entertainment.                                                           
   
   
10. When you buy my books from Pomegranate Books, I will gleefully autograph your copies of Drop Dead on Recall and The Money Bird, or my in-print nonfiction books, including Rescue Matters! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals (Alpine, 2009) for the reader of your choice. Click here to order now!

So there you have it. What else would you like to know? 

Drop Dead on Recall has won the Maxwell Award for Best Fiction Book in the 2012 Dog Writers of America Writing Competition, and was named one of the Ten Best Pet Books of 2012 by NBCPetside blog!

Sheila's books are are available in the usual places and forms -- paperback, ebooks, large print, and Audible. If your local bookseller doesn't have them in stock, they can order them, or you can find them online or HERE.

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Sheila Boneham's Animals in Focus Mysteries

As I wrap up Catwalk, Animals in Focus Mystery #3 (to be released September 2014), it occurs to me that it might be fun to share a few tidbits about the books. (Don't worry if you haven't read them -- no spoilers here!). So here we go....

1. The people in the books are not real people. Yes, yes, you're sure that person belongs to your dog-training or cat-fanciers' club, but s/he doesn't. Really. (Do be nice to me, though....)
2. The animals in the books are as real as can be! Now, this is fiction, so no one dog or cat or bird in the book is exactly like any one real-life dog or cat or bird. But Jay, the "protagdog," and Leo, the "leading cat," and all the others never do anything that I haven't seen or heard of an animal doing.
3. Janet MacPhail, who tells the tales, never intended to be an amateur sleuth. She was perfectly happy photographing animals, landscapes, and occasionally people, and wrestling with the challenges of being 50-something. But then people started dying....
4. Janet's dog Jay is an Australian Shepherd. Yes, Aussies really are that energetic and smart. Really. 

   

   My muses -- Australian Shepherd Jay (1997-2012) and
   Labrador Retriever Lily (lying on my feet as I type)
   
   

5. There are lots of retrievers in The Money Bird (2013). Retrievers come in many flavors, as you can see in the book -- Labrador, Golden, Chesapeake Bay, Flat-coated, Curly-coated, Nova Scotia Duck Tolling. Besides the "official" retrievers, there are other breeds designed to collect game birds from water and land. 
6. Winning in obedience competition really can come down to half points, as it does in Drop Dead on Recall (2012), and some people are very serious about training and winning. But I've never heard of anyone actually committing murder at an obedience trial. Still....
7. Dogs do not have a corner on exciting sports like agility. Wait 'til you see what Leo is up to in Catwalk! (But you do have to wait until September 2014. Sorry.)                                   

   

   Janet's cat, Leo, is an orange tabby like my own Leo and Malcolm.
   All the cats of my life have inspired fictional Leo's behaviors,
   including Kitty, shown here studying up.
   
   >^..^<

8. You younger readers - listen up! People in their 50s, 60s, 70s + really do have lives, complete with hopes and dreams, and physical, mental, and emotional activities of all kinds. So pay attention to Janet and her friends and lovers. (Woops! Just one of the latter at the moment!) You might learn something. 
9. I made up the endangered parrot species in The Money Bird, but a lot of real-life birds and animals are at risk from trafficking, habitat destruction, and other factors. My hope is that the limited information in the book will encourage people to learn more, and behave accordingly. Fiction is more than entertainment.                                                           

   

   Sunny at 12.5 (left) and Jay at almost 13.

10. When you buy my books from Pomegranate Books, I will gleefully autograph your copies of Drop Dead on Recall and The Money Bird, or my in-print nonfiction books, including Rescue Matters! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals (Alpine, 2009) for the reader of your choice. Click here to order now!

So there you have it. What else would you like to know? 

Drop Dead on Recall is a finalist for Best Fiction Book in the 2012 Dog Writers of America Writing Competition, and was named one of the Ten Best Pet Books of 2012 by NBCPetside blog!

Sheila's books are are available in the usual places and forms -- paperback, ebooks, large print, and Audible. If your local bookseller doesn't have them in stock, they can order them, or you can find them online or HERE.

Saving an Endangered Species with Guest Author Kathleen Kaska

I am thrilled today to offer an excerpt from Kathleen Kaska's marvelous book about Robert Porter Allen, one of our environmental heroes. Kathleen has offered to give away one copy of her book - she will choose the winner randomly from those who leave comments. Check out Kathleen's links, too - especially her blog. I've been reading it since it began. Good stuff! ~ Sheila

Excerpt from

The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: 

The Robert Porter Allen Story

 by Kathleen Kaska

Whooping cranes who currently live
on the Aransas National  Wildlife Refuge
in Texas. Photo courtesy of Mike Sloat.

It was April 17, 1948 in the early hours of a muggy Texas morning on the Gulf Coast. The sun at last burned away the thick fog that had settled over Blackjack Peninsula. The world’s last flock of wild whooping cranes had spent the winter feeding on blue crab and killifish in the vast salt flats they called home. During the night, all three members of the Slough Family had moved to feed on higher ground about two miles away from their usual haunt. The cool, crisp winter was giving way to a warm balmy spring, the days were growing longer, and territorial boundaries were no longer defended. Restlessness had spread throughout the flock.

           

As Robert Porter Allen drove along East Shore Road near Carlos Field in his government issued beat-to-hell pickup, he spotted the four cranes now spiraling a thousand feet above the marsh. He pulled his truck over to the roadside and watched, hoping to witness, for the first time, a migration takeoff. One adult crane pulled away from the family and flew northward, whooping as it rose on an air current. When the others lagged behind, the crane returned, the family regrouped, circled a few times and landed in the cordgrass in the shallows of San Antonio Bay. It was Allen’s second year at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. He had learned to read the nuances of his subjects almost as well as they read the changing of the seasons.

           

In the days preceding, twenty-four cranes left for their summer home somewhere in Western Canada, possibly as far north as the Arctic Circle. This annual event, which had been occurring for at least 10,000 years, might be one of the last unless Allen could accomplish what no one else had.

Related Information:

         

Allen in his office.

Learning of Robert Porter Allen’s story, and seeing the whooping cranes myself on numerous occasions at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, inspired me to bring attention to Allen’s work preserving these magnificent birds. In 1984, I had the opportunity while studying marine biology at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, to observe dozens of shorebird species along the Texas coast. I returned one December to take my first whooping crane tour at the Aransas Refuge. Learning of the cranes’ endangerment, I immediately knew I wanted to make a difference in the species’ survival. As a middle-school science teacher, I included a bird unit in my environmental curriculum. I was determined to instill in my students a passion for any environmental cause.

         

Years later when I began freelance writing, I realized I had another outlet for spreading the word. In researching an article about whooping cranes for Texas Highways magazine, I learned that few people had ever heard of Robert Porter Allen or the work he did to save the species. This was when I decided to continue my research and turn the project into a book. Robert Porter Allen’s story needed to be told.

UPDATE!
9/30/13

Operation Migration announced today as the official start of the Class of 2013's migration south to Florida. Eight young whoopers have completed their flight training at White River Marsh in Wisconsin and are ready for their maiden migratory flight to Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Florida where they will join the Easter Migratory Flock for the winter. Wish them luck; they have a long, exciting journey ahead. To follow their progress, log on to OM's In the Field.
http://operationmigration.org/InTheField

Kathleen Kaska, writer of fiction, nonfiction, stage plays, and travel articles has just completed her most challenging endeavor. The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane, a true story set in the 1940s and 50s, is about Audubon ornithologist Robert Porter Allen whose mission was to journey into the Canadian wilderness to save the last flock of whooping cranes before development wiped out their nesting site, sending them into extinction. Published by University Press of Florida and released in 2012, the book has been nominated for the George Perkins Marsh Award for environmental history. Kaska also writes the award-wining Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series and the Classic Triviography Mystery Series.

My Links:

www.kathleenkaska.com

www.kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathleenkaska

Want to learn more about the whooping crane, check out the following websites?

www.operationmigration.org

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/crane/

Where In the World is Sheila Blogging Today? Part III

I've just wrapped up the third week of my blog tour celebrating release of The Money Bird, Animals in Focus Mystery #2, which is now available. First off, a BIG THANK YOU to Lori Caswell, who arranged this tour through her Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. Lori, you have been terrific to work with, and I know how hard you work, to thank you again! Check out Great Escapes - all kinds of wonderful books and interesting authors  just waiting there for you!

Enormous thanks, too, to the blog owners who hosted me, reviewed my book, and otherwise helped me (and many other authors!) spread the word about the books. As a blogger myself, I understand the work involved, and am grateful for the opportunities. 

And now, my books....

The Money Bird rejoins animal photographer Janet MacPhail, her Australian Shepherd Jay, and her orange tabby Leo, who got their start as amateur sleuths last year in Drop Dead on Recall.  You can learn more about the books on my Mysteries Page. They are both available from your local bookseller and online in paperback, and ebook and Audible.com editions. (DropDead on Recall is also available in large print. If you would like an autographed copy of any of my books for yourself or to give as gifts, you can order one from Pomegranate Books.

 I'll be giving away three books! Check it out at the blogs listed below (click the blog titles - the links are live) or on Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. Do it NOW!

Here are my stops this past week: 

• September 15 - Brooke Blogs - review - "The Money Bird was a great way to spend my Saturday…even if it meant frozen lasagna for dinner." 
• September 17 - The Self-Taught Cook - do not go to this site hungry! Yummy!
• September 18 - Escape with Dollycas Into a Good Book - review and my guest post about the animals in the mysteries. "[THE MONEY BIRD] is a very engaging story....It can be read as a stand alone but I suggest reading DROP DEAD ON RECALL first. Both stories will leave you barking for more!!" 
• September 19 - Musings and Ramblings - my guest post (with a little help from Janet!) on traveling safely and happily with pets. 
• September 20 - A Chick Who Reads - review - "This is definitely a must read book and a must read series to follow." - 5 Flowers - Superb!

And although this stop was not part of my Great Escapes Tour, I also visited Christy English's blog on the 17th to talk about the about the romance thread in my mysteries, whose main characters have passed the half-C mark. Because let's face it - love can be murder at any age!

Here's where the Great Escapes tour bus stopped the previous week:

• September 9 - Kaisy Daisy's Corner - short review and links to the giveaway, tour stops, and more
• September 10 - Melina's Book Blog - my thoughts on plotting the individual books in a series, and the series itself, plus a synopsis of The Money Bird and a review of the book.
• September 11 -  Read Your Writes - "Ten Facts About Janet MacPhail," the 50+ protagonist of the Animals in Focus mystery series, and a review here. How well do you know Janet?
• September 12 - readalot - review and links.

And here's where we were the week before that. 

• September 2 - Shelley's Book Case - interview about my background, my inspiration for this book, and a few other things, plus a short review
• September 3 - rantin' ravin' and reading - my take on balancing serious issues with fiction meant to entertain, plus a review by Kate Eileen Shannons, who says The Money Bird is "Very, very funny. The Animals in Focus Mystery series is going to be one to follow.  ♥♥♥♥♥"
• September 4 - A Blue Million Books - interview about the book's title, characters, and more, plus what I'm working on, what I read, and the five real people I'd like with me if I were stuck in a bookstore! You can read the first chaper of The Money Bird, too. 
• September 5 - Omnimystery - interview about my 50-something protagonist, Janet MacPhail, her Aussie Jay, and her orange tabby Leo, plus my writing process and my advice to aspiring authors. 
• September 6 - Mochas, Mysteries and More - why I made my protagonist a nature/animal photographer, as well as a review from Melissa, who says, "This is one of my very favorite animal-related cozy series on the market today."

You can keep up with new adventures by following my Facebook Page, Website, and Amazon Author Page. I hope to see you there! (Comments on the blogs are always welcome!)

My books are available in print & ebook formats from the usual sources, including Audible if you like to listen.  If you would like a personally autographed copy of any of my mysteries, or my nonfiction book Rescue Matters!, you can order here.