Semi-reformed hacker Steve Levitan and his clue-sniffing golden retriever Rochester dig up the truth about a neighbor’s murder.

Neil, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! We support all furbabies, real life or fictional. We want to know all about your Fiction Furbaby, but first, please tell us about Dog’s Honest Truth.

Dog’s Honest Truth by Neil S Plakcy

Cozy mystery

Book heat level (based on movie ratings): PG

There’s a new dog in town – a golden retriever named Luke, in training to be a seeing-eye dog. He and Rochester immediately bond, but there’s something odd about Luke’s human, Ben Ji. How can someone so young afford an expensive townhouse on Sarajevo Way? When Ben is shot, Steve begins to discover the lies he has been telling.

Steve’s also forced to tell the truth about his past, when he deals with a student plagiarist at Eastern College, a professor locked in the stone age, a climate activist with dangerous habits, an angry bartender—and a rifle-wielding assassin.

Will he and Rochester be able to dig up the clues to all these mysteries? Or will a deadly killer go unpunished?

Meet Rochester from Dog’s Honest Truth

Full name: Rochester Levitan

Nickname: Puppy

Gender: Male

Species: Canine, golden retriever

Physical description: eighty pounds of muscle and golden fur that flashes in the sunshine, with a square head, dark brown eyes and a muzzle that shades between black and dark brown.

Relationship to main character: beloved child

Relationship to the villain/antagonist: None

Where this furbaby came from: When Steve’s next-door neighbor is murdered in In Dog We Trust, he and Rochester team up to find her killer.

What inspired you to create this character?

I fell deeply in love with my golden retriever, Samwise, who was my constant companion. He had adorable quirks, like putting his paw over his face to hide, shredding stuffed animals in seconds, and dragging me down the street in search of wonderful scents. I knew I had to write about him, and a cozy mystery seemed the best place to showcase a clue-sniffing dog.

What does the main character think about this furbaby?

When In Dog We Trust begins, Steve thinks his neighbor’s dog is too big, too wild and too slobbery. But Steve needs to learn how to trust and love again, and Rochester forces him to do that. By the twelfth book in the series, Steve is completely besotted.

How do other characters react to or interact with this furbaby?

Steve’s best friend Rick is the local police detective. At first he doesn’t believe that Rochester has an uncanny ability to sniff our clues. He’s just a dog, and Steve must be crazy. But eventually he agrees that Rochester has a nose for crime.

What is this furbaby’s natural habitat?

Because he was a rescue, then lost his human mom to murder in book one, Rochester is clingy. He has to know where Steve is all the time, so Steve has made special arrangements to bring Rochester to work with him every day. He’s either under the kitchen table waiting for dropped food, lounging by Steve’s desk, or sleeping on the floor beside the bed.

What does this furbaby add to the story?

Rochester is a co-detective in this amateur sleuth series. He uses his nose, his paws, and his tail to spur Steve to understand clues. He senses when someone is unhappy and comforts them, and when he’s around villains he growls or backs away.

And his big, happy personality helps balance out some of the darkness of murder.

What about this furbaby will readers like, and why?

Rochester radiates joy and curiosity, as so many dogs do. Readers enjoy his antics and connect them to their own canine companions.

About Rochester

Which, if any of the pets in your writing are modeled after your own pets? In what way?

Rochester is modeled after my first golden, Samwise. And I spend hours every day researching for my books—walking my current goldens, Brody and Griffin; observing their behaviors; feeding them and playing with them. I think this close observation of doggy details adds to reader enjoyment of the books.

What do your pets do when you are writing?

Right now Brody is on the sofa, his head resting on the arm, watching me, while Griffin is splayed out on his side next to the kitchen table, where I’m writing this piece.

What’s the most unusual pet you ever had?

I was fascinated with hermit crabs when I was a teen, and kept one in a glass globe in my college dorm rooms.

Where did you find your pet?

Brody and Griffin both came from breeders we found online. In both cases we fell in love with their adorable pictures. And of course made sure that their parents were healthy.

Where to buy Dog’s Honest Truth

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Honest-Truth-Golden-Retriever-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B09XY31DJN/

Neil S Plakcy Social Media

Author of over fifty cozy mystery, gay mystery, and MM romance novels, Neil S Plakcy lives in south Florida with his husband and two rambunctious golden retrievers. During the great lockdown of 2020 he honed his skills as his own barista.
Website https://www.mahubooks.com
Blog http://mahubooks.blogspot.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/NeilPlakcy
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/neil.plakcy
Pinterest http://pinterest.com/neilplakcy/boards/
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Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/126217.Neil_Plakcy
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/neil-s-plakcy
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B001JP4EL6
Get to know Neil S Plakcy better by signing up for an email newsletter at https://www.mahubooks.com

Shout out to Rob’s Rescues – founded by a 9-year-old animal activist

Rob’s Rescues is a non-profit organization in Georgia helping people in need care for and feed their pets. It was founded in 2014 by a then nine-year-old boy. Rob’s Rescues is dedicated to collecting pet food for people in need to reduce shelter surrenders, and to advocating for the adoption of shelter pets. Rob writes monthly articles advocating for shelter animals in the Around About Local Media magazine publications. His column was first published in 2014. He also has pet food collection sites for people in need in the community and interviews amazing people. His interviews appear online once they are published in his column.
Rob volunteers for Pet Buddies Food Pantry, the Cherokee County Animal Shelter and Cobb County Animal Control and collects pet food for these organizations and the communities they serve. He also wants to bring attention to smaller, rural shelters. Mostly he wants to get kids to be Rob’s Rangers to teach kids that they can help shelter animals. Rob has also talked to kids in a classroom setting.
Rob’s Rescues is a Non-Profit Corporation and all donations are tax deductible.
Website http://www.robsrescues.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/robsrescues/
Twitter https://twitter.com/RobsRescues