Laurien Berenson (Photo courtesy of Laurien Berenson)

…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. 

Crescent Blues: What's your writing method -- do you, for example, know whodunnit before you start, or do you discover that as you go along?  

Laurien Berenson: 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.  

Crescent Blues: What's the biggest difference for you between mystery writing and romance writing?  

Laurien Berenson: 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! 

Crescent Blues: 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. 

Laurien Berenson: 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. 

Crescent Blues: Do you have any plans to broaden your writing career further, to another genre, another type of mystery, another series, standalone mysteries -- or whatever? 

Laurien Berenson: 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. 

Crescent Blues: Did I hear somewhere that you and your daughter now show ponies?  

Laurien Berenson: Actually I'm the one who shows ponies. I have a son, not a daughter, and he's only interested in things with engines.  

Crescent Blues: Oops! Well in any case, dare we hope that you might expand your scope into the horse world? 

Laurien Berenson: I would love to work a pony into the books. Maybe Davey could start taking riding lessons... 

Crescent Blues: 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? 

Laurien Berenson: 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. 

Crescent Blues: 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? 

Laurien Berenson: 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. 

Crescent Blues: You're obviously a poodle lover. Would you recommend poodles as pets?  

Laurien Berenson: 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.  

Crescent Blues: 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? 

Laurien Berenson: 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. 

Crescent Blues: 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? 

Laurien Berenson: 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. 

Crescent Blues: 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? 

Laurien Berenson: 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 

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