Guest Post: behind-the-scenes of Paws for Concern by Amy Hueston

Guest Post: Behind-The-Scenes
Review
About The Book
About The Author
Book Tour & Giveaway

Guest Post

Behind-The-Scenes
by Amy Hueston

Hi there and thank you so much for having me here. I’m excited about sharing a little behind-the-scenes info on my book with you.

The reason I wrote “Paws for Concern,” is because, though I have seen cozies with bakeries and cozies with dogs, I haven’t seen a lot of cozies with dog bakeries. And since dogs and pastries are among my top favorite things, I thought it’d be fun to write about them.

“Paws for Concern” is the first in the A Canine Confections series. The second in the series is called “Paws for Alarm” and is due to come out soon. The main character is Samantha Armstrong. She recently moved from her hometown to Palm Beach. Her aunt lives in a mansion and has given Samantha not only a cottage on the estate to live in, but the money to back her dream of opening a dog bakery. Before we know it, Samantha gets to adopt the deceased Palm Beach victim’s dog Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea is a big help when it comes to solving the murder case. She doesn’t talk in human language but she speaks volumes in whimpers and licks.

The name of the dog bakery is Canine Confections. There are a lot of delicious goodies in it and the fun thing for me is that Three Dog Bakery, the “real” dog bakery—the first ever dog bakery that opened back in 1989—created recipes just for my Canine Confections series. So readers will get a recipe from Three Dog’s Master Chef Sarah, who has created recipes for the dog bakery known across the globe. That’s pretty exciting stuff for me.

Canine Confections is located on Worth Avenue, that famous street with one exquisite shop or restaurant or art gallery after another. It’s a cozy but elegant area and that’s what Canine Confections is, too. A place for shoppers to drop by with their dogs in between buying a $2,000 handbag and $10,000 watch. There are a couple of palm trees outside the dog bakery and Samantha and her fellow shopkeepers sit around and chat sometimes while they watch the parade of pastel-clad Palm Beachers stroll by.

I have fun thinking of delicious treats to offer at Canine Confections. I know dogs shouldn’t have sugar any more than humans should, and as with my own dogs, Samantha tends to watch for the sugar intake of her customers better than her own sugar intake. She bakes with things like a blip of honey rather than a cupful of sugar. And her ingredients are organic and free range … so far, she hasn’t heard one furry customer complain.

Samantha offers espresso to her human customers, something I also love. When I lived in NYC, there were plenty of espresso shops around, but I had a much more difficult time finding them when I made the move to Florida. Now of course, I can find an espresso everywhere, but I there’s something about drinking one from a real espresso cup instead of a paper cup that elevates the experience for me. And that’s what we do at Canine Confections. Samantha wants the dog owners—who are used to elevated experiences as part of their wealthy lifestyle—to enjoy an espresso in a real cup while their dog enjoys a tasty treat.

And speaking of the dogs and their tasty treats, all kinds of dogs come in to visit Canine Confections. Samantha is still working out the bugs to how to deal with the dynamics of a bunch of dogs sharing the same space and keeping the peace, but mostly, she’s got it down. Sweet Pea has a big, comfy bed behind the display case, so if a nervous nellie of a dog shows up, Samantha asks Sweet Pea to keep a bit of a distance. Usually all it takes is a respectful request from Samantha or, on occasion, a PawtyCake treat.

I would love to hear about the treats readers give to their dogs. Do you bake for your dog? I make a frozen treat that my dogs pretty much expect every evening now. It’s a healthy treat compared to what I find in some of the stores and it keeps my big boy’s big, loveable mouth busy for awhile.

Thanks again for having me. I appreciate it.

Amy

Review

Samantha Armstrong starts the grand opening of her new dog bakery with a dead body in her lobby. In no time at all it appears as if every potential customer in Palm Beach knows more about the murder than she does. Snarky shop owners, snoopy reporters, and the local police detective all seem to think that just because she is an outsider, she has to be the murderer. Customers are more interested in seeing the scene of the crime than spoiling their pooches. She has her work cut for her if she is going to build her business up.

Aside from Sam (who is great heroine for this series), Aunt Mary is my favorite character in this book. In addition to her hard belief in Sam’s abilities, she is just an interesting person. Pup, Sweet Pea, is just a sweetie and makes great foil for snooping around the shops. The dichotomy between the haves and the have-nots in this story distills beautifully into the fact that despite the size of the bank account, everyone has the same dreams and desires. I look forward to meeting these characters again in the future.

I am not ashamed to say that I did not figure out the killer. It doesn’t happen that often. I did entertain the notion of that person early on, but waited for more to become clear. All in all, it was fun little mystery that makes great use of canine pals and creamy confections.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

In Paws for Concern by Amy Hueston… Samantha Armstrong must clear her name and businesses reputation—before it is too late …
Tweet

About The Book

About The Book:

Life is good for Samantha Armstrong. She left her cheating boyfriend, settled into her cozy cottage on her Aunt Mary’s Palm Beach estate and is finally opening Canine Confections, her dream dog bakery on the ritzy Worth Avenue.

But Samantha’s happy new life goes doggone crazy when Palm Beach resident and pastry shop owner Whitney Goodwin is found dead on Canine Confections’ floor, whisking Samantha into the middle of a murder investigation. The only bright spot is that she finds herself adopting Whitney’s loveable dog Sweet Pea.

As the killer strikes again, it’s obvious that the shopkeepers on Worth Avenue are the target. Samantha’s impatience won’t let sleeping dogs lie. She takes it upon herself to move things along by padding around town with Sweet Pea and sniffing out clues to clear her name and Canine Confections’ reputation—before it is too late …

Includes a recipe from Chef Sarah Deters at the test kitchen of Three Dog Bakery, the original bakery for dogs!

Purchase Links – Am azon / B&N / BookShop
CD Download on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Talk-Love-Amy-Hueston/dp/B08C252M8D

About The Author

About The Author:

Author Amy Hueston writes mini-mysteries for Woman’s World when she isn’t writing mysteries and suspense books. Paws for Concern is the first book in A Canine Confections Mystery series.

Author Links