The Mystery of the Backyard Bulldog

How Hank became the inspiration for The Colonel in The Holly Daye Mystery Series.

One morning, a houseguest walked onto our patio and came running straight back inside.

“There’s a big white dog in your backyard.”

We already had a big white dog, an American Bulldog named Howie. The problem was, this wasn't Howie.

To this day, we don't know exactly how Hank got into our completely fenced backyard. There were no holes, he hadn't dug under the fence, and the gate was closed. Our best guess is that someone out walking early that morning found him loose, remembered seeing us with Howie, and helpfully deposited this other large white bulldog inside our gate.

We tried to find his family. We called veterinarians and shelters and put him on the local lost-pet radio program. Nobody claimed him.

Meanwhile, Hank was making himself at home.

He was covered in fleas, had a hernia, tested positive for heartworms, and needed to be neutered. Once it became clear nobody was coming for him, Hank got the full glow-up: bath, veterinary care, heartworm treatment, surgery and a permanent family.

I think he was grateful for all of it except possibly the neutering.

Hank had the sweetest temperament. He was wonderfully agreeable, occasionally stubborn, and, at first, surprisingly undemanding. Then my daughter Charlotte, who was about eight or nine, announced one day, “Come see what I taught Hank!”

She had taught him to climb onto the bed.

That was the end of Humble Hank.

Hank discovered pillows. He discovered fluffy blankets. And because he tended to shiver, Charlotte began wrapping him snugly in blankets until he looked like an enormous bulldog burrito.

He loved it.

Being wrapped up became one of Hank's signature things. We have picture after picture of this substantial bulldog tucked into his blankets with only that big head sticking out, looking perfectly content with the accommodations.

The former stray gradually became such a diva that I once found a red velvet throw at Goodwill and I told Charlotte we needed to buy it for Hank because His Royal Highness clearly required a royal robe.

She talked me out of it.

She later admitted Hank would have loved it.

We lost Hank unexpectedly in 2021, and I was devastated. Later that year, when I began creating Holly Daye and the world that would become Hounds & Heists, I was still missing him terribly.

So Holly got The Colonel.

Colonel isn't an exact copy of Hank. Bits of several dogs I've loved have found their way into him. But his heart began with the mysterious big white dog who somehow appeared inside our fenced backyard one morning, stayed for the rest of his life, and eventually decided that pillows, fluffy blankets and being wrapped like a burrito were his birthright.

I still wish we'd bought him that red velvet robe.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                     ***

Rachel Lynne writes cozy and paranormal mysteries set in her beloved Lowcountry. An avid reader with a passion for history, folklore, and a good mystery, she lives at Seven Oaks in coastal Georgia, where she divides her time between writing, gardening, experimenting in the kitchen, and dreaming up new ways to get her fictional characters into trouble.

Her real-life adventures occasionally find their way into her fiction, including the mysterious arrival of Hank, the bulldog who inspired a character in her Holly Daye Mysteries.                                                                        

Want to meet Hank's fictional counterpart? You'll find Hounds and Heists in this month's Enchanted Library collection, Harvest, Hayrides & Homicide!