Research Randomness -- Jan Edwards
Latest in my research requirements for Listed Dead , the third in the Bunch Courtney Investigation series, was the ‘right’ breed of dog. Simple you might think, and perhaps it should have been. The dog in question only appears for a few pages, so why would I go to any extended effort? Simply put, (without plot spoilers) I had a list of requirements to be met that would make said dog both suitable and unsuitable at one and the same time. So down the research rabbit hole I went. Before I even started on filling in all my writerly tick boxes there was one large point to bear in mind. Listed Dead is set in 1940 and dog breeding was at an all time low. Why? Because in the summer of 1939 the UK Government produced a pamphlet on the topic which read: “If at all possible, send or take your household animals into the country in advance of an emergency.” It concluded: “If you cannot place them in the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to have them destroyed...