The real star of A Roaring Murder

A Roaring Murder is book one in the Lady Marigold’s 1920s murder mystery series, but the unofficial star of the book is Marigold’s dog, Pepper.

He’s a Dandie Dinmont terrier, a breed I’d never heard of before I started writing the book. I think I was researching popular dog breeds in the 1920s when I came across it.

They’re a small Scottish dog breed with breed a very long body, short legs, and a distinctive topknot of hair on their heads.

Coat colors come in pepper (dark bluish black to a light silvery gray) or mustard (reddish brown to a pale fawn).

As Marigold explains in the book, Dandie Dinmonts are named after a character in Sir Walter Scott’s novel, Guy Mannering.

All my beta readers have adored Pepper, and I really loved writing him. A few readers commented on the realistic interactions between Marigold and Pepper when he’s up to no good.

They really connected with these situations where your dog is being naughty but they’re so cute it’s hard to be mad or scold them.

I’ve certainly drawn on my own experience with our old dog, Luna. She’s a Maltese cross and 15 years old, so her troublemaking days are behind her, but like Pepper, she used to be an escape artist.

I’ve just started writing book one in another series and this time the dog is a corgi—as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth. I’ve been reading funny dog stories on Reddit for inspiration and can’t wait to write those scenes.

If you’ve got any funny stories about your dogs, I’d love to hear them 🙂