Monday, December 07, 2009

Coffee with a canine: Jane Finnis & Copper and Rosie

The current featured trio at Coffee with a Canine: Jane Finnis & Copper and Rosie.

Finnis, on how she was united with the cocker spaniels:
We found Copper in a dog rescue kennel aged just over a year. He was beautiful, but two homes had already found him impossible to live with, hyperactive, destructive, and aggressive with small children. But Richard and I know and love cockers. They are happy, affectionate dogs, slightly crazy, full of fun, but if they've had a bad start in life you need time and patience to bring out the best in them. Puppies, like kids, need to be sure they are loved, but also to know where the boundaries are. Five years later Copper is a pleasure to have around: still excitable and slightly crazy, but much calmer, happy with children, and no longer intent on wrecking the house. Our second dog Rosie must take some of the credit for calming him down; she's from a working strain of cocker - they've been gun-dogs for many years - and they're bred for smartness and steadiness rather than looks. She's a laid-back, sweet-natured dog, playful and impossible to tire out for long. She came to us aged ten months from a couple in the village who were very fond of her, but were starting a new business which occupied them away from home 24/7, and they weren't prepared to leave Rosie on her own all day. She settled in here straight away, and she and Copper are good friends, and justify the traditional description, "the merry...[read on]
Jane Finnis' Aurelia Marcella novels tell of life and death in first-century Roman Britain, the turbulent province of Britannia, on the very edge of the Roman Empire. There are three books so far in the series: Get Out or Die, A Bitter Chill, and the latest, Buried Too Deep.

Among the praise for Buried Too Deep:
"Finnis's well-crafted prose subtly weaves authoritative detail into a believable portrait of everyday life near the turn of the millennium. More historical adventure than conventional mystery, but highly readable and endlessly absorbing."
--Kirkus
The Page 69 Test: Buried Too Deep.

Visit the official Jane Finnis website and The Lady Killers blog. Follow her on Twitter.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Jane Finnis & Copper and Rosie.

--Marshal Zeringue