Why I wrote the Wildling K9 Mystery Series

In my life I have been very lucky to have the love of three incredible dogs.

My first two loves were Max and Sam - two very special golden retrievers. They were cousins and I had them until they were almost 17 years old.

I know so many of you will understand what I mean when I say they were my soul mates. They couldn't have been more different that each other. Max was smart and independant and loved to swim, while Sam was a cuddly, goofy, uncordinated soul who was the very best shadow I could have ever asked for. Whever I went he was underfoot, which isn't easy when you're a 40kg dog!

It might sound like Sam was my favourite, and that would be true. But Max was my absolute heart dog and if you think he was my favourite - that would be true as well.

They saw me through some of the most turmultuous years of my life and while I'd like to say I was a perfect dog mum, there were times I wasn't. But they taught me how to love them, more than that, they taught me how to love - unconditionally. I am a better person because of them. When I needed them most, they found me and never left my side.

At the end they held on, probably for too long. I couldn't let them go.

For anyone who has ever had an old dog, you'll know what I mean when I say it's an impossible decison. When is too soon - when is too late?

I didn't know, and if I'm honest I think I waited too long but the thought of a life without them felt like no life at all - they were my life. They always will be.

Without them the house felt unbearably still and quiet.

I hated it and wanted to sleep in my car.

Knowing better, as mothers always do, my mum ignored my protests and brought a little golden cocker spaniel puppy into my world.

I named him Saxon; Max and Sam.

Just when I thought there would never be a dog that could find me when I needed him most the way Max and Sam had done so many years before, Saxon seemed to sense my sadness.

He was just a baby, but he knew.

Dogs always know. They find us. And they love us - with everything they have.

And that's why I wrote the Wildling K9 Mystery Series - in honour of the three dogs who found me when I was more lost than I'd ever been...

...and for all the incredible dogs who spend every minute of their unbearably short lives devoted to loving us and making us better for having felt the slobbery lick of their tongue on our face, and the musty scent of their coat as they snuggle in beside us at night.

We don't deserve dogs. They're too good for us.

But I never want to imagine my life without one.