Dennis Lehane, who you may know as the author of Shutter Island, Mystic River, and Gone Baby Gone, is also the owner of a rescue beagle named Tessa. That black-and-tan-colored beagle, pictured above, has gone missing after jumping the fence of her yard in Brookline, Massachusetts. According to Lehane's official Facebook fan page, from a post on Tuesday, she's "been roaming through the wilds of Coolidge Corner for the last 24 hours." He adds, "She's smart, fast, and immeasurably sweet. She doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She's micro-chipped, but her tags were off when she was let out into the yard."

According to WCVB.com, Tessa was last seen around 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon near a gas station in Allston, Massachusetts. The author has requested anyone who sees her to reach out via his Facebook page (it's full of words of support and offers to help), and as an added incentive, offered the sweetest sort of reward an author can give: "Naming of character in the next book for anyone who gets her back to us! (No, really!)"

Of course, we're talking about a beloved pet; people should be motivated to do the right thing, anyway, and the best reward would be just knowing you helped someone get his dog back. But it would be pretty cool to be a in that new Dennis Lehane novel, especially if you can feel good about yourself, too. Maybe we'll name a blog post after you, too.

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Jen Doll