Animal Idioms and Other Idle Thoughts
I’m Gwen Franklin, recently retired high school teacher and business partner in 2 Sisters Pet Valet. It’s the brainchild of my best friend, who decided that I needed to keep busy once my teaching days were a thing of the past. I tried explaining to her that all I really wanted to do was read – for pleasure! – and sleep in.
She didn’t get it. If you’re not a reader, you probably won’t. But having four full bookcases of mysteries and no time to enjoy them is not my idea of a relaxing retirement. On the other hand, I’ll admit that we’ve had more than our share of adventure since we went into partnership.
Take, for instance, our last venture. It really had nothing to do with caring for pets but plenty to do with someone who was “playing possum” and hiding their true intentions. I’ll tell you one thing for sure: I will never again trust someone just because they like dogs. That is not a reliable barometer of good character, unfortunately.
Which brings me to what I really wanted to mention: sayings that have animal references, such as “raining cats and dogs” or “letting the cat out of the bag.” Our everyday language is peppered with comments that include animals as a reference point. It doesn’t give the animal kingdom a very good name, either. A vain person is “proud as a peacock,” while a gluttonous eater “pigs out.” And we’ve all met someone who spends their lives “in the doghouse.”
It makes me wonder what animals say about us. It’s probably a good think we can’t speak their language, right?
To read more of my latest adventure with Nora, pick up a copy of Playing Possum by Dane McCaslin. You’ll see what I mean about the dog.
About Playing Possum
The 2 Sisters Pet Valet Service is purring along, thanks to the entrepreneurial talents of retired schoolteacher Gwen Franklin and her bestie and business partner, Nora Goldstein. But when the fur starts to fly, they become partners in crime detecting as well . . .
At Nora’s request, Gwen is happy to accompany her to a meeting with ex-hubby #3’s lawyer. Much to Nora’s surprise—and dismay—she’s been named executor of said ex’s will. The fact that the man has been missing for years and was just declared legally dead only makes an already complicated process more so. And besides, is he really dead? What’s not a surprise is that Nora’s twin ex-stepchildren are pressing for access to their father’s dry cleaning fortune . . .
With Gwen’s assist, it’s time for Nora to do a little digging. It turns out that the twins’ catering business is failing—and that their dad’s business was laundering more than clothing. Soon, Gwen and Nora are infiltrating a long list of dirty deeds, including fraud and illegal gains. And the perpetrators are all too close to home. The police may want Gwen and Nora to stick to their own line of work, but the pair are determined to make sure the truth comes out in the wash—before someone ends up in the discard bin . . .
About Dana McCaslin
McCaslin began a life-long love of mysteries at a very young age. She bypassed Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden and went straight for Agatha Christie, thanks to her mother’s library books. Dane is retired from a twenty-plus-year career in teaching high school and college English, and she uses her newfound freedom to read for pleasure, write mysteries, and smell the roses.
