Of Mutts and Men

May 15, 2020
A sterling tale of love between a man and his dog. The Little Detective Agency consists of Bernie Little and Chet, his canine companion. Chet, who narrates all their adventures, constantly tries to articulate his own feelings and his understanding of what Bernie's trying to accomplish. A chance meeting at a party introduces them to hydrologist Wendell Nero, who invites them to visit his trailer in Dollhouse Canyon the next day, where they find him with his throat cut and his wallet and personal items missing. The sheriff is dying and his deputy is useless, so Bernie and Chet investigate, quickly turning up clues to a suspect they track down. Even after Florian Machado is arrested, Bernie feels there's a lot more to the story than simple theft. He persuades Wendell's exes to take time out from fighting over his RV to hire him to find the killer. Florian's lawyer, an Ivy League big shot who works for a law firm that never touches this sort of thing, gets him to agree to a plea bargain that only deepens Bernie's suspicion that big money and water are involved. Since Chet can't communicate all the information his super nose has discovered about the killer, they have to break the case the hard way. You don't have to love dogs to enjoy this idiosyncratic mystery, which is both amusing and introspective.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 15, 2020
The punny title, a twist on Steinbeck, is not something our hero, Chet, is going to bend his head over. Chet, you see, is a dog, a 100-pound-plus dog. He's a K-9 school flunk out?authority problems?a partner in a California detective agency (with PI Bernie Little), and the narrator of this intermittently successful tenth installment in the series. Why shouldn't Chet be a full-fledged partner? The right dog can bring plenty to an investigation. Chet isn't a cutesy bow-wow; he makes the most of his special gift?smell?by sniffing out the detail that doesn't fit, like why the lady smells of fresh water. The novel's opening, a rooftop pursuit of an art thief, sets a fine rowdy tone, but, unfortunately, it isn't maintained. The narrative drifts off onto the edge of Chinatown and its concern with water usage. But Chet is sniffing something off. He knows, as no one else does, that something smelling like "a mixture of Legos and wet clay" is about to go Kaboom! and gets Bernie to safety. We need more of this and less on the legalities of aquifers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

May 18, 2020
The appeal of Quinn’s routine 10th Chet and Bernie mystery (after 2019’s Heart of Barkness) lies solely in the conceit of a whodunit narrated by a canine. Wendell Nero, chairman emeritus of the geology department of Valley College in an unspecified western state, has a problem he won’t go into when he meets Bernie of the Little Detective Agency. They agree to get together the next day at Wendell’s trailer, where Bernie and Chet, the dog, discover their potential client sitting at his desk with his throat slashed. Chet’s olfactory senses identify the recent presence of a male “gum chewer who liked cherry flavor,” and Bernie notices a convenience store receipt listing a recent gum purchase. These clues lead the pair to the knife-wielding Florian Machado, who admits to stealing Nero’s wallet after finding him dead. Bernie believes Machado is innocent of murder, and continues to search for Wendell’s killer. The homicide case doesn’t compel, the internal logic of what words Chet does and doesn’t understand is underdeveloped, and there’s no deepening of either lead’s character. For now this series is on autopilot. Agent: Molly Friedrich, Friedrich Agency.

June 1, 2020

Chet the dog and his partner, Bernie Little, of Little Detective Agency, take on a case that involves Bernie's greatest worry, water in the desert. After retrieving a stolen painting, they meet hydrologist Dr. Wendell Nero, who specializes in the study of water and its practical uses. He wants to know if they're interested in a case and invites them to his trailer in Dollhouse Canyon. By the time they get there, Wendell has been murdered, his throat slit. Chet finds a clue that leads them to a man with a knife and Wendell's wallet. While the not-so-bright deputy sheriff and the DA are satisfied they have their killer, Bernie follows his hunches, leading to Chet's kidnapping and escape, another death, and a double-dealing by a high-powered firm with international connections. VERDICT Fans of this character-driven series return because of Chet's narration and his adoration of Bernie. Despite the murders, this is a leisurely paced, feel-good book about a dog and his beloved owner, portrayed with all their flaws and insecurities. Chet's narration adds humor to a long-running series with a strong sense of place. [See Prepub Alert, 1/7/20.]--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.