Mark B. Mills

Mark B. Mills has lived in both Italy and France and has written for the screen. His debut novel, ‘The Whaleboat House’, won the 2004 CWA award for Best novel by a debut author. His second, ‘The Savage Garden’, was a Richard and Judy Summer Read and a No. 1 bestseller. His most recent novel, ‘The Long Shadow’, was published in 2013. He lives near Oxford with his wife and two children. ‘Waiting For Doggo’ is his brand new book and ideal for dog-lovers.

1. Your new book called ‘Waiting For Doggo’ is about a man who ends up looking after his girlfriend’s dog when she leaves him and follows on the unlikely relationship between the two. What inspired you to write this type of story?
   I’m pleased to say it was an idea that came to me out of the blue in the best possible fashion: while having lunch with an old and dear friend! For some reason, ‘Polyanna’ by Eleanor H. Porter came up in the conversation, and it suddenly struck to me that it might be possible to do a similar thing with a dog: an animal who somehow affects those around him simply by his sheer ‘doggishness’, much as Polyanna wears down even the most hardened cynics with her persistent good-naturedness. In the writing, it became something else, more of an ‘odd couple’ story about companionship, along the lines of P.G.Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster novels, which I adore. ‘Waiting for Doggo’ is a very different type of tale to anything I’ve attempted before, and on a personal level I think I needed to step away for a while from the crime/mystery genre, which inevitably draws on the darker sides of human nature for its inspiration.
2. As it is coming up to Christmas and puppies will be given as gifts. What advice would you give new dog owners?
   Think of your puppy as an orphan, as a creature that has been separated from its parents and its siblings. It needs a lot of love, of gentle attention; it’s not just a plaything for children. Also, make sure it has a quiet spot of its own that it can retire to in the knowledge it won’t be interfered with. Like children, puppies need their ‘rest’ periods.
3. Who is your favourite fictional dog?
   It has to be Snowy from the Tintin books (although Brian from ‘Family Guy’ gets an honourablemention). I love Snowy. Led by his stomach, he’s capable of great courage, but also great cowardice, and he’s a storehouse of wry observations.
4. And finally Mark, do you have any new exciting projects coming up on the horizon?
   I’m currently deep in a period mystery tentatively named ‘Where Dead Men Meet’. Set in 1937, it’s a chase thriller that starts in Paris and ends in Venice. I’m also toying with an idea triggered by an object I found in an antique shop, but that’s all you’re getting for now.

Follow Mark B. Mills on Twitter Mark B Mills for updates or check out her website at Mark B Mills