Volume 2, Issue 5 – October, 1999
Laurien Berenson: It’s a Dog (Breeder)’s Life
While I love the whole mystery genre, from the hardest boiled to the coziest, I cherish a particular fondness for mysteries that go beyond a well-wrought plot and engaging characters. Mysteries that offer the reader the key to a new and unfamiliar world — another country, another time, or simply another subculture within our familiar 20th century society.
Frankly, discovering another world was the last thing I expected when I opened the first of Laurien Berenson’s Melanie Travis series, set in present day suburban Connecticut. And yet from the first, I was captivated by the window Berenson opens to the strange and wonderful world of purebred dog breeding and dog shows.
Crescent Blues: Would you tell our readers a little bit about your new mystery Hush Puppy, the sixth in the Melanie Travis series?
Laurien Berenson: Hush Puppy is a little different than the previous Melanie Travis mysteries in that the murder takes place at Melanie’s place of work (a private school). Just to add some spice to the plot, a woman from Sam’s past appears to throw a monkey wrench into Sam and Melanie’s recent engagement.
I understand that you’re a third generation dog show veteran. Could you tell us a little about your experience breeding and showing poodles?
I bred and showed poodles (miniatures and standards) for about 20 years and was always an owner-handler — meaning that I did all my own grooming, training, handling, etc. I finished about 15 Poodles to their championships, put obedience titles on three others, and also bred several group and specialty best-in-show winners.
When did you first decide to use your dog expertise in your mysteries — was it something you always wanted to do, or did you arrive at it by accident?
I always wanted to write a mystery series about the dog show world. I thought it was just the perfect setting, and I wanted to make use of it the same way Dick Francis uses horse racing. Besides, anyone who has seen my house, with its six resident poodles, would know that I can hardly write about anything else!
Did the fact that one of your romances (Talisman) featured a dog breeder as a heroine help you, either to develop the idea for the Melanie Travis series or to sell it to the publishers?
Writing mysteries was always my goal, because that’s what I most enjoy reading. But writing romance was a great way to break into book-length fiction.
What characteristics do you share with Melanie, and what are the biggest differences between you?
Melanie and I have the same voice, and the same values, it seems. On the other hand, she and I are different in many ways, too. She is younger than me, and a single mother. (I’ve been married nearly 25 years.) Also, I’ve never been a teacher. On the other hand, I never allow her to do anything that I wouldn’t do (like walk into a dark, deserted house where the villain is most likely hiding!)
Since you write the series in first person, do you find that your readers tend to confuse you with your heroine?
Yes, people do tend to confuse me with Melanie. I’m not really sure why. But I have gotten phone calls for Melanie, and many people assume I’m a teacher.
How do you deal with that?
I don’t really “deal with” it. I don’t mind at all.
When you wrote A Pedigree to Die For, were you already planning a series?
When I wrote A Pedigree to Die For, I had no idea that it would be a series (I found out when the purchasing editor asked for two more), so I threw in everything I could think of. Of course, you always find more things to talk about later on.
Are there things you did in the first book or two that you now regret — that you find difficult to work with or that lock you into things that you’d rather have done differently?
Yes, if I had known it was going to be a series, there are several things I’d have done differently. Chief among them: I would not have made Melanie a mother, and I would have set the books in a fictional town, rather than a real one which many readers know quite well.
Melanie’s love interest, Sam Driver, is a favorite with your female readers. Can you tell us a little about how you’ve developed Sam and his relationship with Melanie, and your future plans for them?
I can’t tell you much about my future plans for Sam and Melanie without giving away more than I want to. I will only say that their relationship is about to go through some big changes in the next two books. I liked Sam a lot but (unlike many readers who think he’s great) I’ve always felt he was too good to be true. So now I’ve given him some problems to sort through.
Was Melanie’s Aunt Peg based on a specific person — a relative, or a fellow poodle breeder?
Aunt Peg is the only character in the books who is (loosely) based on a real person. She’s a standard poodle breeder who lives in Massachusetts, who was my mentor when I was getting started in poodles.
I’m sure the dog show world is in some ways a very small world — are your novels ever inspired by real events in that world, or do you try to avoid even the appearance of using real situations?
My books are often inspired by real events in the dog show world. Sometimes, there so much chicanery going on, it’s hard to pick and choose. I do try to disguise then events somewhat and often they get turned around to suit my plot, but I love the idea that I’m able to use real happenings in the books.
How do the dog breeders, owners and handlers you know like your series?
The ones I’ve spoken to have loved it. Mostly, they seem to like the idea that someone is writing about their world and getting the details RIGHT.
One of the challenges for a mystery writer with an established series is making the books work both independently for readers new to the series and as part of a continuum for the long-time fans. How hard is that for you?
It’s very hard. I’m always walking that fine line between telling too much and not enough. I try desperately not to give away any plot points from the earlier books, though there is one big one. Sam is a suspect in the first book and of course, he goes on to be Melanie’s boyfriend. But other than that, I really hope that the books can be enjoyed independently.
What’s your writing method — do you, for example, know whodunnit before you start, or do you discover that as you go along?
I have all different writing methods. Hush Puppy is my 19th book. At the moment, I’m just sitting down and winging it. (How’s that for a scientific answer?) But I may return to the synopsis/outline method for the next book.
What’s the biggest difference for you between mystery writing and romance writing?
Biggest difference: mysteries have a plot. Romances are only about the characters and their feelings. I was always having my romance proposals rejected for just that reason: too much plot!
What kind of books to you like to read? And does your reading taste differ when you’re in the thick of writing versus when you’re between books or doing some of the less creative tasks in the production process like proofing galleys.
I love to read mysteries, mostly cozies, and I seem to prefer woman authors. I also enjoy non-fiction, and my reading habits remain constant no matter what I’m writing.
Do you have any plans to broaden your writing career further, to another genre, another type of mystery, another series, standalone mysteries — or whatever?
At the moment, I’m very content just writing the Melanie Travis series (though my agent would like that to change!) Before the series started, I wrote 12 stand-alone books, so I don’t have any issues left that I’m dying to sort out through my writing.
Did I hear somewhere that you and your daughter now show ponies?
Actually I’m the one who shows ponies. I have a son, not a daughter, and he’s only interested in things with engines.
Oops! Well in any case, dare we hope that you might expand your scope into the horse world?
I would love to work a pony into the books. Maybe Davey could start taking riding lessons…
In your books, some of the poodles become characters as fully developed as the humans, although without venturing into the fantasy that they are anything more than highly intelligent and sensitive dogs. Does this create problems for you? For example, many people say that readers of traditional mysteries won’t tolerate the writer killing, harming, or even seriously threatening an animal — do you feel you have to live within this restriction?
I do live with the restriction, but I don’t much mind. I’m as fond of my canine characters as I am of my human ones, and I’d really rather not harm them (especially within the confines of a dog lovers mystery), so it seems like an easy rule to adhere to.
As an animal lover and a writer whose books focus on dogs, do you feel a certain pressure — either from others or from yourself — to help draw attention to some of the social issues involving animals in today’s society?
I do talk somewhat about social issues involving dogs, but I feel very strongly that the purpose of my books is to entertain. If I can teach someone something along the way, so much the better, but I am not going to pull the reader out of the action to do so.
You’re obviously a poodle lover. Would you recommend poodles as pets?
I would always recommend a poodle as a pet, with two caveats. They do require grooming, so if you don’t have the time or the patience, poodles are not the right pet for you. Also, poodles are very people-oriented. They need to be in homes where they will be with their people, not crated all day or tied out in the backyard.
Are there any other breeds that you particularly love or find fascinating, and if you couldn’t own poodles, what kind of dog would you choose instead?
I don’t know what kind of dog I’d have if I couldn’t have poodles, maybe a miniature bull terrier. But that’s way in the future. At the moment, my house is already full.
You usually try to spotlight at least one other breed of dog in addition to poodles in each of your books — how do you decide what breed to use?
So far, I’ve chosen breeds that I would enjoy learning more about, as well as breeds that are pretty popular, so that the books will appeal to the greatest spectrum of people. I’m also trying to spread things around, so that I’ve taken at least one dog so far from each of the seven groups recognized by the American Kennel Club. Pugs (Hush Puppy) are in the toy group. Next year’s Unleashed will feature a St. Bernard (working group) and after that, I’ll choose a breed from the herding group.
For someone who doesn’t necessarily want a purebred dog, how would you recommend that they go about finding a dog? Should they go to a shelter, a pet shop, a friend who has puppies?
I would always recommend going to a shelter. There are lots of wonderful dogs and puppies waiting for adoption. As an aside, I would never buy a puppy from a pet store, no matter how sorry I felt for it. That’s about the worst thing you can do.
Donna Andrews
Donna Andrews is the author of Murder with Peacocks, which won the St. Martin’s Press/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Award in May 1998. Her second book in the Meg and Michael series, Murder with Puffins, will be released this spring.