TC graduate pens canine sleuth book for young readers
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Out walking her beloved Bichon Frise, Gabrielle, watching her sniff and conduct her doggie business, Jillian Gregory had an inspirational storm: what if she were sniffing for clues or was a secret agent? (Which, with typical doggie intensity, certainly seemed to be the case for Gabrielle.)
What if other house pets were spies or detectives, solving mysteries right under the noses of their human owners?
"That was the day it popped in my head and then whenever I'm outside and see a stray dog or cat walking around, I say, 'What if they are a secret agent,'" Gregory said.
Gregory, launching her analytical, ordered mind into the realm of fantasy, let the idea simmer for a few months. She worked out the main characters and also created the Feline Canine Federation as the core of her tale. The FCF is a 007-esque secret agency for pets, investigating crimes and solving mysteries among the domesticated.
Gregory, a 1995 graduate of Traverse City Senior High School, then began writing. A month later she had "Dobbs Dog Detective: Operation Fido and Fifi." Geared to 8-12 year old readers, the 16-chapter mystery follows the adventures of FCF Special Agents Dobbs, a gruff hound nearing retirement, and Petunia, a sleek feline with a penchant for trouble. They investigate mysterious behavior and disappearances of pets around the nation.
The book snagged a publisher and is now available on a limited basis around the country. Gregory also created a website to promote her book and what she hopes will be a series. The book information is available online at www.dobbsdogdetective.com
In town for a book signing last Saturday at Horizon Books, Gregory greeted old friends and cheerfully penned her name on the books. Stepping into the limelight was fun and something she hopes is a step along the path to her ultimate career.
"Writing would be my dream job, but I have to do other things to eat or pay the bills," she said.
An engineer by training, with an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, Gregory said she tapped into her left brain as her right brain created the book. The liberal use of gadgetry - items and devices that would make Q proud - also stems from her techie bent.
"With it being a mystery, I had to make sure I had the clues in the right spot and not give too much away," said Gregory, now a resident of Charleston, S.C. "A lot of the stuff, the technology that I made up in the book, a lot of it does come from what I learned from engineering -you're always taught to find new and innovative ways to think about something."
Being a published author is a surprising step in Gregory's life. After graduation from college in 2000, she headed to New York City where she worked for an investment banking firm in computers and training.
An inveterate writer in elementary school, she had dropped that interest as she pursued her love of math and science during junior high and high school.
Even after college, the creative writing spark lingered. While in New York City, she completed a distance learning course from the Institute of Children's Literature where she learned the basics of writing and marketing.
"I knew I had ideas but I didn't know what to do: how long the story should be, how to do it," Gregory noted. "The course helped me with guidelines of setting up the beginning, middle and end and they gave basic guidelines on how long chapters should be."
Being a writer remained on the back burner until the terrorist attacks of September 11. In New York for just over a year by that time, she lived a mile from the World Trade Center. The events prompted her to reassess her life's goals and priorities.
She soon moved to Charleston, S.C., where her parents lived part of the year, and enrolled in graduate school at The Citadel. Now studying for a master's degree in education, she is preparing to teach math to junior high and high school students.
But Gregory is still writing, still pursuing her dream. She has started a second Dobbs Dog Detective book and already completed another high-tech mystery about a junior high school with strange goings on. She centered the second Dobbs book around skiing and a winter theme, something she knows well as a former Trojan ski team star.
"I like mystery and adventure," she said, adding of her targeted audience: "From what I wrote, I realize that my mindset was really 8-12 year olds and that is what I like to read."
A large dose of humor is woven throughout her books, too.
"I like the stories to be funny because that is what I liked to read when I was younger," Gregory noted.
With one book published, Gregory believes publishers will look favorable on her new manuscripts.
"They don't want a one-hit wonder," she said.
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