Lehane Continues Search for Missing Dog

Steven Senne/Associated Press Dennis Lehane with a poster of his missing dog, Tessa.

More than a week after appealing to the public for help finding his lost dog, Tessa - and offering a role in his next novel as a reward to the person who finds her - the author Dennis Lehane has not yet located his missing pet, but he has not given up hope that she will be found.

“No dog since Lassie ever got this attention,” Mr. Lehane told The As sociated Press. Noting that efforts to find Tessa have spawned an online campaign and even attracted the volunteered participation of a dog psychic in San Francisco, he added, “The flip side of the comedy is, who wouldn't do this for their dog?”

Tessa, a beagle, went missing on Dec. 24 after she escaped from the yard of Mr. Lehane's home in Brookline, Mass. The author, whose novels include “Gone Baby Gone,” “Mystic River” and “Shutter Island,” quickly took to his Facebook page, where he asked for the help of his followers in finding the dog, who was not wearing identification tags but does have a microchip. As an added incentive, Mr. Lehane wrote on Facebook: “Naming of character in the next book for anyone who gets her back to us! (No, really!)”

Since then Mr. Lehane has received many online tips on Tessa's whereabouts, though the dog is still missing. (The search comes as he is finishi ng up a screenplay adaptation of his short story “Animal Rescue,” which he observed was a “sadistic irony.”)

But Mr. Lehane sounded an optimistic note when he spoke to The A.P. on Thursday. “Every dog expert we talk to is strongly suggesting that she's in somebody's house,” he said. “That's why we keep saturating the area with pictures. Because somebody could have her and just not know.”

He added that finding Tessa was “a no-questions-asked issue.”

“Bring the dog to a shelter or call me and I will pick up the dog,” Mr. Lehane said.