CATS DOGS AND OTHER BEST FRIENDS

This a favorite drawing from Cyra R Cancel

Look at that smile!

My guest today is romance author, Dee Davis. She writes the series called A-Tac and Deadly Dance is the latest release and featured in Cosmo as a HOT READ FOR MAY. Dee is a full time writer juggling family and writing and has been published since 1998. Some of her hobbies are cooking, traveling, finding new restaurants, and exploring Manhattan. As for writing, she says the hardest part of the story is the middle and by that time she just wants to blow everything up and "have done with it."

Today Dee talks about using animals in her writing.

Animals play all kinds of roles in novels.  From lead characters, like Old Yeller or Black Beauty, to antagonists like the whale in Moby Dick or giant squid in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.   They can guide the protagonist like the unicorn in A Swiftly Tilting Planet or Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Sometimes they’re used to establish the character of their master, like Hagrid’s dog Fang in the Harry Potter books.   And sometimes they simply have a cameo—as in Asha, the cat featured in my latest book, Deadly Dance.

But like most characters, they often start out to be one thing and wind up being something else altogether.  Initially, I intended for Asha to have only a bit part, appearing in a video that Harrison Blake and Hannah Marshall discover.   But once I’d met him, I really liked the little guy and wanted to make sure he was taken care of.  So he wound up not only getting two additional scenes, but having his own happy ending. 

SASHA

Over the years, I’ve had the chance to feature several animals in my novels.  A dog named Mac, a horse named Jack, and another dog, a westie, named Bentley to name a few.  And each of them developed their own personality as their role in each story grew.   Of course, I do have animals of my own.  A cardigan welsh corgi and a tuxedo cat.  And both of them like to hang out (at my feet and in my lap, respectively) as I write.  So I suppose it’s no wonder that animals often make their way onto the pages of my books.

I suspect that Asha will not be the last.  But he is certainly the first to have helped solve a crime.

• How about you?  Do you pets play interesting roles in your life?  In others lives?  Got a great pet story to share?  Spill!

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DEADLY DANCE  Dee Davis

Available in bookstores or online now 

As the intelligence officer for A-Tac, a black-ops CIA unit masquerading as Ivy League faculty, Hannah Marshall is used to working behind the scenes. But when a brutal murder hits too close to home, Hannah finds herself in the middle of the action, falling in love while racing to outwit a sadistic mastermind. 

A KILLER CLOSES IN

After the death of her A-Tac partner, Hannah doubts everything she thought she knew about love and loyalty. When handsome Harrison Blake joins the team, she's reluctant to trust him - or to act on her intense attraction to him. Then Hannah receives a podcast of a gruesome murder, and the only person who can help her find the killer is Harrison.

Harrison has spent years trying to hunt down the cunning monster who killed his sister. Now investigating with Hannah, he faces a shocking possibility - his sister's murderer has resurfaced. As the danger escalates, Hannah and Harrison grow closer; the desire simmering between them ignites. And when Hannah disappears, Harrison has only one chance to save the woman he loves. Excerpt

 

---when not at the computer writing, award winning author Dee Davis likes to explore Manhattan with her husband and dog.  Check out her newest romantic suspense, Deadly Dance, book five in her A-Tac series. Available now. www.deedavis.com Facebook, Twitter