Bookworks Presents Shelf Awareness for Readers: Welcome Back, K-9 Maggie

The Promise is Robert Crais's 20th novel and second Scott and Maggie novel (our review is below). After reading the first, Suspect, we fell in love with Maggie, and asked Crais about her welcome return.

"I brought Maggie back because I love her. Simple as that. Creating the character of K-9 Maggie--a German shepherd who sniffed out explosives in Iraq and Afghanistan before she lost her handler to an IED attack--was one of the most interesting, fascinating, and moving pleasures of my career. I wanted Maggie to be a true and realistic dog, which meant I had to learn about dogs. I'm not talking about the general and loving knowledge that comes with having a dog as a pet, but the roll-up-your-sleeves deeper knowledge that would open the doors to discovering what Maggie was capable of as a character, what part she would play in the story, and how she would add to the drama. This meant spending time with LAPD's K-9 Platoon, which I did (and do), but I also had to learn how Maggie--how a dog--takes in the world, what drives her, motivates her, and why dogs bond with us the way they do. I had to learn how and why dogs love us, and we, them. Readers fell in love with Maggie, I think, because the bond between Maggie and her handler, LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James, rings true. Readers see their own pets in Maggie, and their love for their pets in Scott's love for his K-9 partner.

"Having Elvis Cole and Joe Pike team up with Scott and Maggie was inevitable. I love writing about those guys, but I was still writing Suspect when scene ideas mixing Elvis and Joe with Scott and Maggie began spooling up for The Promise: how Elvis and Scott might meet, the fun I could have bringing Maggie face-to-face (or nose-to-nose) with Elvis Cole's crazy cat. Cooking up a story that would bring all four characters together in an exciting and believable way was an absolute bear, but once I had it, the novel exploded as fast as a patrol dog sprinting after a suspect." --Marilyn Dahl, editor,Shelf Awareness for Readers

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