Joking Around with Author and “Bagel” Owner Jeff Cohen Pets Families.com

Prepared to be entertained, folks. My next interview victim is the very talented and funny mystery writer, Jeff Cohen. (Just check out the clever titles of his books to get a sense of his wit.)

He took a break from his busy writing schedule to “humor” me (pun intended) by answering the following questions. (Thanks again, Jeff. Best of luck with the new release.)

Courtney Mroch: What kind of things do you write about? (Genre, subject matter, themes, what have you.)

Jeff Cohen: Generally speaking, I’m a writer of “humorous” mystery novels (I prefer the term “Funny,” but they don’t consult with me on such things). The current series, the Double Feature Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime, concerns Elliot Freed, a recovering writer and husband who buys a one-screen movie house in New Jersey and shows only comedies–one classic, one contemporary each week–and for reasons only a mystery novelist could possibly imagine, keeps having to investigate murders. It’s really an excuse for me to go on about classic comedy and throw in as many jokes as I can.

CM: What kind of pets do you have? (Or have you had.)

JC: We have a beagle/basset(“bagel”) named Copper, who is a very sweet dog and as stupid as the day is long. He gets by on personality and looks.

CM: Do animals appear in your work? Are they the focus of any of your stories or the main characters?

JC: In my other mystery series, the Aaron Tucker mysteries, Aaron’s family has a beagle/basset (“bagel”) named Warren, who is a very sweet dog and as stupid… wait a minute… Especially in As Dog Is My Witness (which was nominated for a Maxwell Award by the Dog Writers Association of America), Warren gets involved in the plot, and he doesn’t help much, but he’s in there pitching.

CM: Do you ever use your pet as the basis for any animal characters?

JC: Well, Warren is a beagle/basset (“bagel”) who is a very sweet dog and… you get the idea. I admit, I do project Copper into the story when I’m writing about Warren.

CM: Do your pets contribute to your work methods and help with the process?

JC: No, he mostly lies around and waits for his walk. I do occasionally get story ideas while walking the dog, though. As Dog Is My Witness begins with a man being shot while he’s walking his dog, and I guess my paranoia was working overtime one night.

CM: What are you working on now? Any new releases?

JC: The second Double Feature Mystery, It Happened One Knife, was released July 1. In that one, Elliot meets two of his comedy idols from the OLD days, and finds out that meeting your heroes might not be the experience you hope for–especially when one of them kills the other. The third book in the series, currently called A Night At The Operation, will be out in 2009. I’m pretty sure.