A Caseload to Give One Paws

Meet Delilah Doolittle, pet detective.

The heroine of Patricia Guiver’s new paperback mystery series (Berkley Prime Crime; $5.99) is a fiftysomething British widow who lives in a Southern California beach town called Surf City and makes her living tracking down errant pets at $75 a day (plus expenses).

The tea-sipping pet detective is aided by an imposing but sweet-natured Doberman pinscher named Watson who--guess what?--sniffs out clues.

In “Delilah Doolittle and the Purloined Pooch,” the Huntington Beach author’s debut canine caper, Doolittle is hired by a wealthy Orange Blossom Heights woman to find her missing German shepherd, a show dog.

But wait. When Doolittle pokes into a little-used doghouse on the woman’s property, she makes a grisly discovery: a man’s body, with an electronic dog collar wrapped around his neck.

Guiver describes her style as “kind of Miss Marple meets Surf City.” She recently turned in the manuscript for the third Doolittle mystery under her three-book contract with Berkley and is talking to her publisher about writing more.

She’s off to a good start. Mystery News says, “ ‘Delilah Doolittle and the Purloined Pooch’ may be Patricia Guiver’s first mystery, but it reads like the work of a seasoned pro.”

The British-born Guiver, a freelance magazine writer who got her start working on London’s Fleet Street, is a lifelong animal lover who draws on her experience working in animal welfare.

She’s a co-founder of Animal Assistance League of Orange County, founder of the Orange County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and she has served on the Orange County Animal Shelter Advisory Board.

Doolittle’s faithful canine companion, Watson, is inspired by Guiver’s now-deceased Doberman pinscher, Brandy. And the series’ Surf City is based loosely on Huntington Beach, Guiver’s home for the last 30 years.

But, no, her mystery series wasn’t inspired by Jim Carrey’s 1994 movie, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.”

“I didn’t originate the idea and neither did Jim Carrey,” she says. “There are pet detectives. One is based in San Francisco and I’ve heard of others too.”

Guiver began writing her first Doolittle mystery in 1993 as a member of a writing class taught by Orange County mystery writer Patricia McFall.

Guiver’s second book in the series, “Delilah Doolittle and the Motley Mutts,” will be out in April.

She and Kathleen Harrington, author of “Fly with the Eagle,” will discuss their books at a Valentine Tea at 2 p.m. Friday at the Huntington Beach Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach. Admission: $12. For reservations, call (714) 842-4481, Ext. 7.

*

The second annual erotic-poetry contest will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday at Alta Coffee House, 506 31st St. Newport Beach.

The contest is limited to the first 15 to 20 contestants who sign up, beginning at 7:15 p.m. All work must be original, and each poet will have five minutes to read. Poets T.S. Kerrigan and Curt Last will judge the contest, in which “quality poetry” and performance count.

Setting the stage for the evening is poet Lee Mallory. Mallory will also read at 7 p.m. Thursday at Barnes & Noble in Triangle Square, 1870 Harbor Blvd., Costa Mesa, and at 7 p.m. Friday at Barnes & Noble in Metro Pointe, 901 S. Coast Drive, Costa Mesa.

Also This Week

* Photojournalist Harry Benson, author of “First Families: An Intimate Portrait From the Kennedys to the Clintons,” will speak at 1:30 p.m. today at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd., Yorba Linda. General admission is $5. A book signing will follow Benson’s talk.

* Rochelle Krich, author of “Fertile Ground,” will sign at 11 am. today at Mystery Ink/Upchurch Brown Booksellers, 384 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach.

* Albert Taylor, author of “Soul Traveler,” will sign at 6 p.m. today at Barnes & Noble, 13712 Jamboree Road, Irvine.

* Poet Frances Mayes, author of “Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy,” will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Newport Beach Public Library, 1000 Avocado Ave., Newport Beach. Admission is $8. For reservations, call (714) 717-3890.

* Jo-Ann Mapson, author of “Loving Chloe,” will speak and sign at 7 p.m. Friday at Borders Books and Music, 25222 El Paseo, Mission Viejo. She also will sign at 2 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble in Fashion Island, 953 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach.

* A used-book sale will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at the Newport Beach Public Library, 1000 Avocado Ave.

* Mark Moyar, author of “Phoenix and the Birds of Prey: The CIA’s Secret Campaign to Destroy the Viet Cong,” will sign at 2 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble 13712 Jamboree Road, Irvine.

* Diane Sedo, author of “Taking Tea With Alice,” will sign at 2 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble in Metro Pointe, 901 S. Coast Drive, Costa Mesa.