As book tours go, Claire Cook's road trip to promote Must Love Dogs (Viking) is turning into a wild adventure. From an uncanny case of mistaken identity in Chicago to a rousing bachelor auction in Michigan, Must Love Dogs, the story of a divorced Catholic woman's odyssey through the personal ads, is generating an unusual buzz—and bookseller enthusiasm—wherever Cook goes.

A review of the novel in a local newspaper resulted in a rash of congratulatory calls to American Kennel Club judge Claire Cook in Chicago. The author of Must Love Dogs, however, is an entirely different Claire Cook, unrelated to the AKC judge. The two Claire Cooks crossed paths at a book signing at the Bookstall in Winnetka, Ill., where Cook (the dog judge) related her story to the crowd and handed off her misdirected congratulations to the rightful owner.

A couple weeks later, Saturn Books in Gaylord, Mich., hosted Cook (the author) and coordinated her visit with a bachelor auction featuring a host of prominent local men offering everything from home-cooked Italian dinners to topless car washes. In preparation for the event, Saturn had created giant personal ads for each of the 15 bachelors, including pertinent data and photos. Displays also incorporated stuffed dogs and blown-up photos of the book's jacket.

"We had so much fun," Saturn Books co-owner Jill Miner told PW. "We had no idea if anybody would actually show up, but we had a full house and standing room only for the reading, and the auction—which was co-sponsored by the Gaylord Area Council for the Arts—raised $3,800 for local libraries. There were 80 to 90 women actually bidding on the bachelors, with all these rowdy groups hooting and hollering."

Saturn also sold more than 100 copies of Must Love Dogs, which is a Book Sense 76 and a Barnes & Noble Discover selection.

"It's very unusual for us to go to these extremes to promote a book," Miner said. "But when a book really sparks our imagination like this, it makes it so easy to hand-sell. I've been telling everybody that Must Love Dogs has one of the funniest first chapters I've ever read, and Claire was so charming and funny in person. She even signed some of the bachelors for the auction."

Cook the author has been doing her own part promoting her book as well, baking more than 1,000 dog bones for booksellers in her native Massachusetts.