About the Book

Book: Mabel Goes to the Dogs

Author: Susan Kimmel Wright

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Release date: June 5, 2022

When Mabel finds herself sharing a thicket with a dead body while volunteering with canine search-and-rescue, her life has clearly once again gone to the dogs!

After losing her job at age forty-nine, Mabel thought she’d turned things around. Now, she’s doing good by volunteering and, surely, she’ll soon be a successful author, writing about her experiences. After solving two notorious, decades-old cold cases while serving as a historical society volunteer, she’s already getting invitations to appear on TV.

Her new assignment couldn’t be simpler. All she has to do is hide in the woods and let Millie the search dog practice finding her. But to her horror, Millie finds more than Mabel–there’s a dead body hiding in the same patch of brush. To make matters worse, Mabel’s maybe-boyfriend, suspended PI John Bigelow, has a dark history with the victim.

While struggling with maid-of-honor duties for best friend Lisa, a string of disasters created by handyman Acey, and a disagreeable new neighbor, can Mabel solve another murder in time to save John’s detective license–if not his neck?

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About the Author

Susan Kimmel Wright began her life of mystery in childhood, with reading. That led to writing kids’ mysteries and eventually to Medicine Spring with Mabel. A longtime member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, Susan’s also a prolific writer of personal experience stories, many for Chicken Soup for the Soul. She shares an 1875 farmhouse in southwestern PA with her husband, several dogs and cats, and an allegedly excessive stockpile of coffee and tea mugs.

More from Susan

I got stuck. When I was outlining my story for Mabel Goes to the Dogs, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next. This isn’t unusual for me, or, I’m sure, many other authors. When it happens, I have to go search for inspiration—or at least, step away from my project for a bit and do something else till a fresh idea lands in my brain.

Luckily, I soon stumbled upon the Empty Frames podcast, which explored what was, at that time at least, the single largest property theft in the world—the 1990 art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Thieves impersonating police subdued the guards and over the course of the next eighty-one minutes methodically removed thirteen pieces of art then estimated at $200 million. That dollar valuation quickly escalated to between $500-600 million. The stolen artwork including paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, and Manet, was never recovered and remains the highest-value museum robbery in history.

The museum has offered a $10 million reward and never stopped trying to find its missing art. Thirty-four years later, empty picture frames still occupy the walls where the irreplaceable, stolen paintings once hung.

The story was engrossing, and I soon started down a rabbit hole, learning more about art theft and art-theft detectives, such as Charley Hill, the subject of the book The Rescue Artist. Sadly, it’s been estimated that nine out of ten stolen artworks will never be recovered. But Hill defied the odds in managing to retrieve Edvard Munch’s famous work, The Scream, brazenly stolen from the National Gallery in Oslo, Norway on the eve of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. The Rescue Artist tells the story of the theft, as well as Hill’s wild quest to locate and retrieve The Scream.

After I resurfaced from my own odyssey through Empty Frames and The Rescue Artist, I felt re-energized and ready to write again. Every time I write a book, I learn new things, which I like to share with my readers. I always hope they’ll find them as fascinating as I do!

Author Interview

What is your favorite genre of books? Why?

Cozy mysteries, of course! I grew up in the fifties and early sixties, when children’s mysteries were incredibly popular. I read so many of them, I think they helped shape my brain! I was a country girl, and loved the idea of having a mystery drop into an ordinary, rather boring life to shake things up. I still love reading about ordinary characters I can relate to, in small-town settings, more often than not, who get involved in mysterious events they need to figure out. Cozies give us safe adventures, with any violence occurring well off-stage, along with laughter and a predictably satisfying ending where we can depend upon justice being served!

Are you a one project at a time author, or do you have multiple projects going at once?

I was always a multitasker, switching between projects to suit my mood and current bursts of inspiration. Now, the pace of putting out a new book about once a year doesn’t leave room to lollygag! I suspect when this series is completed, I’ll go back again to working on several projects at once.

How do you relax after a long day of writing?

Reading is still my favorite form of recreation! A very close second is walking outdoors with my dogs, or even alone. I grew up in the wooded western Pennsylvania mountains, and can never get enough of being out in nature.

Do you remember the first book you read? What sort of impact did it have on you?

I no longer the first book I read by myself, but still vividly remember several picture books and storybooks I loved, including Around & About Buttercup Farm, The Playful Little Dog, and The Big Red Pajama Wagon. What I remember best were the wonderful illustrations and the little adventures I could totally relate to—they started me off with a lifelong book obsession. Probably the earliest book I remember reading for myself that I fell in love with was Space Cat, about a cat who stowed away on a rocket ship. Since then, I think I’ve been forever on a quest for more books that made me feel the way that one did—transported to another world!

What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?

Coffee or tea in the right mug—I definitely need the correct mug for the season and the particular book I’m writing (I even bought a flying saucer mug for working on Mabel & the Little Green Men)! Sometimes I also add props that go with my story—they help keep me in the mood.