Crime detection from the canine perspective--Great fun!
Of Mutts and Men (A Chet & Bernie Mystery #10)
by Spencer Quinn
What a rollicking, at times hilarious read featuring Private Investigators, Bernie Little and his dog Chet. (Failed K-9 school are the hints I get--but that's another story and one I dearly need to read!) BTW I haven't read any of this series before. Starting at #10 really posed no problem and I've already lined up to begin from the beginning!
In this story we have a dead hydrologist, an ex girlfriend, various bit players including other friends and some unforgiving baddies.
Bernie and Chet track down the person who appears to have committed the murder. The police are satisfied, but Bernie isn't. And that's where the story gets interesting.
The plot wends its way along at a reasonable pace, but the one who steals the show is Chet (Chester). The story is told from his viewpoint--and what a totally enjoyable, and often wickedly funny that filter is!
Bernie is a PI always looking for a case. Chet is a gumshoe type detective dog character somewhere between Snoopy and Sam Spade with a philosophical bent that made me do double takes from time to time.
Chet's an innocent abroad who has insightful flashes. He's so doggy and so Sesame Street all at once. I underlined so many fabulous Chet musings that the pages started to look like they belonged to redacted official secrets papers.
And those moments when Chet starts to put things together, and then at the last minute is distracted by the smell of another animal or some other canine interest, are priceless. Like his being ok with a fly in his drinking water. "I was sipping water from a bowl with a dead fly lying on the bottom, or, on second look, maybe not quite dead. No complaints. You toughen up in a job like mine." (Maybe he's really a Steven Wright avatar?)
Chet interpreting what he thinks prayer might be is fabulous. His discovery of pastrami on rye sandwiches is just too much.
Bernie is quite a character too--a rangy, laconic type of guy, hard hitting, with his own brand of integrity, and determined.
Deftly told, clever and funny. I was sold from the first line.
This hard boiled when he needs to be, PI overlapping with his furry friend, sort of puts this story close to cozy mystery genre. But this is so much more!
What a treasure!
A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley
*****
by Spencer Quinn
In this story we have a dead hydrologist, an ex girlfriend, various bit players including other friends and some unforgiving baddies.
Bernie and Chet track down the person who appears to have committed the murder. The police are satisfied, but Bernie isn't. And that's where the story gets interesting.
The plot wends its way along at a reasonable pace, but the one who steals the show is Chet (Chester). The story is told from his viewpoint--and what a totally enjoyable, and often wickedly funny that filter is!
Bernie is a PI always looking for a case. Chet is a gumshoe type detective dog character somewhere between Snoopy and Sam Spade with a philosophical bent that made me do double takes from time to time.
Chet's an innocent abroad who has insightful flashes. He's so doggy and so Sesame Street all at once. I underlined so many fabulous Chet musings that the pages started to look like they belonged to redacted official secrets papers.
And those moments when Chet starts to put things together, and then at the last minute is distracted by the smell of another animal or some other canine interest, are priceless. Like his being ok with a fly in his drinking water. "I was sipping water from a bowl with a dead fly lying on the bottom, or, on second look, maybe not quite dead. No complaints. You toughen up in a job like mine." (Maybe he's really a Steven Wright avatar?)
Chet interpreting what he thinks prayer might be is fabulous. His discovery of pastrami on rye sandwiches is just too much.
Bernie is quite a character too--a rangy, laconic type of guy, hard hitting, with his own brand of integrity, and determined.
Deftly told, clever and funny. I was sold from the first line.
This hard boiled when he needs to be, PI overlapping with his furry friend, sort of puts this story close to cozy mystery genre. But this is so much more!
What a treasure!
A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley
*****
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