Yesterday reader Michele Schmidt asked: “How do you come up with the names of your characters?” A great question and I was going to answer it today but right away I got sidetracked by the following passage from CAT ON A HOT TIN WOOF, the latest Chet and Bernie mystery. (For those who don’t know the series, which can be read in any order, the Beast is a very old and very fast Porsche and Chet – a dog but NOT a talking one – is the narrator. I’ll try for a better answer tomorrow.)

Once—on the way to Central Booking with a perp named Sinbad “Lyin’” Ize, cuffed and kind of balled up on the little shelf in back of the Beast—Bernie, just passing the time in a friendly manner, said, “Hey, Lyin’, interested in our M.O?” “Ain’t it a mite late for that?” was the reply, on the bitter side, which no one wants to hear, but Bernie, being the forgiving type, told him anyway. “We accumulate facts, stack them in logical order, draw a deduction.”

Wow! I’d vowed to never forget that and though I often did forget it I was remembering it now, as we sped along a straight dusty back road that seemed familiar. As for its meaning I had no idea, from beginning to end. But clearly it was working. Just look at us!