Canine Crime and Mystery with Antony Johnston, Blake Mara, and Louisa Scarr
Come and join us to discuss these suspenseful novels in which dogs help to solve the murder.
By Zazie Todd, PhD
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If you love crime and mystery novels, you will love this event that celebrates books in which dogs help to solve crimes.
In Antony Johnston’s witty cosy The Pet Sitter Detective Plays Dead, Gwinny Tuffel has a small part in Draculania and is filming in the Yorkshire Dales when a fellow cast member is found dead in their locked trailer. In Blake Mara’s twisty whodunnit The Dog Park Detectives Paw and Order, a group of people who walk their dogs in the park step in to investigate after a young homeless man is found dead in the playground. And in Louisa Scarr’s thrilling police procedural Broken House, PC Lucy Halliday and her dog Moss are called in to search for a woman who went missing 10 years ago.
In this suspenseful panel, we catch up with some old friends from the first Bark! Fest and meet a new one too.
This event is hosted by Zazie Todd and Kristi Benson.
Please support the authors by getting their books which are available wherever books are sold, including my Amazon store and Bookshop, and most likely your local library too.
The Dog Sitter Detective Plays Dead by Antony Johnston
The Dog Sitter Detective Plays Dead
While filming a small role in Draculania, a genderswapped remake of Bram Stoker's classic tale, Gwinny Tuffel finds life imitating art in the misty Yorkshire Dales. A cast member is found dead in a locked trailer, a stake through their heart.
With a prima donna on set, mounting filming delays, and the chaos of caring for a friend's Jack Russell terrier, Gwinny has her hands full. Set against the eerie backdrop of Hendale Hall and its vampire lore, it's clear a flesh-and-blood killer has struck. Can Gwinny solve the mystery before anyone else finds themselves on the cutting-room floor?
Antony Johnston is one of the most versatile writers of the modern era, with a body of work spanning books, film, graphic novels, videogames, and non-fiction. An award-winning author and New York Times bestseller, his creations include Atomic Blonde, The Dog Sitter Detective, the Brigitte Sharp thrillers, and many more.
Paw and Order by Blake Mara
The Dog Park Detectives Paw and Order
When these canine-loving sleuths go off the leash, the fur's bound to fly! The Dog Park Detectives are back with another tail of intrigue from the bark side of crime…
When a young homeless man is found murdered in the playground of their local park, the Pack – a group of friends who meet regularly to walk their dogs together – leap into action, determined to get justice for him even if they have to bark up every tree in the neighbourhood.
But the discovery of another body, this time by the canal, suggests the killer may only be getting started. And when one of their own is targeted, it’s clear that whoever it is has a bone to pick with the Pack.
With the trail getting closer to home, can Louise and the gang find the murderer in time, and bring them to heel?
Blake Mara is the author of The Dog Park Detectives, a cosy crime series set in dodgy East London, where the people who meet at the local dog park band together to take a bite out of crime. With a strong sense of community, and dogs that have as big a role to play as their guardians, it’s been described as “the must-read for all dog-loving crime fans”.
Writing as Mara Timon, she’s also the author of WW2-era historical thrillers, City of Spies (shortlisted for CrimeFest's Debut of the Year 2020) and its sequel, Resistance. Special Operations Executive agent Elizabeth de Mornay is operating behind enemy lines, where the lines between “good” and “bad” blur, and where no one is who they claim to be. It’s as if Casablanca met le Carre for a refreshing spin on the sometimes creaky spy thriller genre.
Blake Mara is a native New Yorker who moved to London in her 20s. She (and her dachshund – the inspiration for The Dog Park Detectives) live in London, where she’s working on her next books.
Broken House by Louisa Scarr
Secrets never stay buried
Lauren Shaw went missing ten years ago, her house left to rot. But new evidence shows that she didn’t start a new life – someone ended it.
PC Lucy Halliday and her police dog Moss are called in as part of the search team and it doesn’t take Moss long to track down human remains. DCI Jack Ellis leads the case, but their friendship ended after he kept a huge secret from her. A secret about her own past.
A strange feeling hangs over the house – why did Lauren’s husband never return? What is her sister trying desperately to conceal?
Will Lucy and Jack at least reveal the rotten truth about Bracken House?
A dark and thrilling police procedural featuring dog handler PC Lucy Halliday. Perfect for fans of Jane Casey, Robert Bryndza and Cara Hunter.
Louisa Scarr studied psychology at the University of Southampton and has lived in and around the city ever since. She is a full-time writer, and when she's not at her desk, she can be found pounding the streets in running shoes or swimming in muddy lakes.
She is the author of the Butler and West police crime thrillers, the DS Kate Munro series and the affectionately known ‘dog books’, following a police dog handler, PC Lucy Halliday. The third in this series, Broken House, is out now with the fourth, Leicester Square, out in October.
She also writes as Sam Holland, and is the award-winning author of the Major Crimes series, beginning with The Echo Man. Her books have been published in 15 countries worldwide, including the US, Germany and the Netherlands, where she became the first author to win the Bronze Bat for her debut and the Silver Bat for best thriller in consecutive years at the Nederlands Thrillerfestival. Her fifth book under this name, The Killer in Room Five, is out now. She is also the author of an Audible Original, Sleeping Beauties.
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