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Nicolette Briggs doesn’t do humans.

Three Dogs, Two Murders, and a Cat

Nicolette Briggs Mystery Book 1

by Rodney Strong

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Nicolette Briggs doesn’t do humans.

As Wellington’s premier, and possibly only, animal detective, Nicolette mostly investigates missing pets and cases of animal cruelty. So when her latest client asks her to investigate a case of a poisoned cat, it seems right up her alley. Until a body shows up, then another, and suddenly despite her resolve to not get involved, Nicolette is right in the middle two murder investigations. Or is it just one killer?

When someone breaks into her house and one of her dogs is injured, Nicolette’s reluctance turns to determination to not only solve this thing before the police, but show up her stubborn police detective brother in the process.

Along the way she has to navigate a daughter about to turn 15, a dwindling bank account, and a dysfunctional family that seems determined to fix her. Not to mention a killer who’s turned their sights her way.

No wonder she doesn’t do humans.

Three Dogs, Two Murders, and a Cat is the first book in the clean, cozy mystery series. Gilmore Girls meets Nancy Drew, with a touch of dysfunctional families, a touch of humour, and a touch of caring.

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Rodney Strong quit a 9-5 job in 2016 to finally pursue his life long dream of becoming a writer (he still has the very first play he wrote at age 6). He lives in Porirua, New Zealand, with his wife, two children, and two cats. When he’s not writing he attempts to stay away from chocolate, runs (sometimes), reads, and enjoys spending time with his young children (who contribute a lot to the running and craving for chocolate).

He always has a couple of projects on the go, but for now is focusing on his series of cozy mysteries.

One of his cats likes to help with the process by sitting on the laptop, while the other likes nesting on his shoulders (which was cute when he was a kitten, but now the cat is 11 years old, is less so).

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Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?

I think I was destined to become an author from the moment I learned to write. When I first started school I would write short plays for my classmates to put on, and the ideas kept coming from then onwards.

Over the years life got in the way and I drifted away from the dream, but the ideas were still there. One day when my kids were young I was telling them the could be anything they wanted to be when they grew up, and it struck me that I wasn’t being truthful to myself, because if that was true for them then it should be true for me. So I quit my job and dedicated myself to writing entertaining stories.

Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?

I’m not a plotter, so I tend to write and see what happens. Although I know who the main characters are going to be, writing this way means there are sometimes surprises when characters pop up from nowhere as the story develops.

What kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?

As I said above I tend to write as I go rather than plotting, which means limited research before the story begins. Once I know what route the book is taking, that’s when research kicks in, usually around poisons, etc.

Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?

Can I cheat and say all of them? Because I’ve written stage plays before, and naturally include a lot of dialogue in my books, I can imagine all of them becoming movies, or TV series. However if I had to pick one in particular, it would be Three Dogs, Two Murders, and a Cat. The main character and her daughter were inspired by the Gilmore Girls television show, and features a lot of snappy, witty dialogue between them, and I think that, coupled with the mystery, would make for a great TV movie.

Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Three Dogs, Two Murders, and a Cat?

The main character is Nicolette Briggs, and in her own words, she doesn’t do humans. She’s a private investigator specializing in cases involving animals. She also has a very complicated family situation. She’s a solo mother to a teenage daughter. Her step brother is a police detective who is constantly telling her to butt out of investigations, and her mother has been disappointed in her for most of her life. The inspiration for Nicolette came from a friend, but the family dynamics came from watching Gilmore Girls when I was younger.

Nicolette has three rescue dogs at home, Teddy, Nero, and Fig, the titular Three Dogs.

How did you come up with the title of your first novel?

Believe it or not, the title was very tricky. I brain stormed and threw out many different ideas before finally deciding to keep it simple and use three main plot points to title the book.

Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reigns of the story?

My characters definitely hijack the story, or at the very least are constantly trying to. Especially Nicolette. Because she’s not a police officer she can get away with more things, but it’s important she doesn’t cross too many lines while trying to act on behalf of animals that are abused, or stolen. I sometimes have to remember she has a teenage daughter at home and while she would never do anything intentionally to put herself in harms way, Nicolette is quite good at getting there unintentionally.

What did you edit out of this book?

Spoilers! No, but seriously, there is a minor mystery in the book that I edited out the ending too. It doesn’t impact the overall story, but is just a teaser for an ongoing mystery that will bubble away under surface in the next book.

Fun Facts/Behind the Scenes/Did You Know?’-type tidbits about the author, the book or the writing process of the book.

I have an office set up at home, but I find I’m more productive in café’s. I mostly write at the one around the corner from where I live, and even though it can get quite noisy sometimes, I can actually get more done. I can sometimes knock off 1,000 words in an hour.

Home has too many distractions, like housework, and cats.

Do you believe in writer’s block?

Absolutely. There are days that I have to struggle and curse and shake my fist at the screen just to get a hundred words out. Luckily I haven’t had too many days in a row like that. I usually try and have a couple of writing projects on the go at a time, so if I’m really struggling on one, I switch to the other to see if that will shake anything loose. Sometimes it works, and other days I just have to accept that no writing is going to be done, and go and cuddle a cat.

Tell us something really interesting that’s happened to you!

I’ve always had a love for animals. When I was nineteen I left New Zealand and travelled to the other side of the world to work in the Regent’s Park Zoo in London, England. It was amazing getting to work with a whole range of animals, in particular three baby chimpanzees who would surprise me by hiding when I walked into the room, and jumping on me. And seeing a baby giraffe only an hour after it was born.

The following year I traveled to Kenya and did a safari, sleeping in tents amongst the animals. That was incredible, although also a little nervewracking, when we camped by a lakeside and they said sometimes hippos would wander through and because they have poor eyesight they would trample tents. I’m almost convinced they were joking.