Bark to the Future

March 1, 2022

From the multi-award-winning Andrews, past master of laugh-out-loud avian titling, Round Up the Usual Peacocks puts Meg Langslow on the trail of three separate cold cases when a member of her techie nephew's true-crime podcast team has an unfortunate accident that could have been attempted murder (40,000-copy first printing). In the New York Times best-selling Childs's A Dark and Stormy Tea, tea maven Theodosia Browning is approaching St. Philips Graveyard one rain-wrought night when she witnesses the murder of a friend's daughter and immediately starts investigating--never mind the serial killer loose in Charleston. In the Edgar Award-winning Krueger's Fox Creek, Ojibwe healer Henry Meloux protects a stranger named Dolores Morriseau who had sought his guidance but now finds herself pursued by hunters, with Cork O'Connor hot on their trail; his wife, Meloux's great-niece, is with the endangered Dolores (150,000-copy first printing). Author of the "Hugo Marston" mystery series, English journalist-turned-Texas prosecutor Pryor launches a new series with Die Around Sundown, set in World War II Paris, where Det. Henri Lefort has just a few days to solve the murder of a German major at the Louvre Museum (40,000-copy first printing). In Bark to the Future, latest in Quinn's doggedly funny New York Times best-selling series, PI Bernie Little and his devoted canine, Chet, try to figure out what happened to the woman who reigned as prom queen of Bernie's high school class and now seems to have vanished (75,000-copy first printing). With Quarter to Midnight, the New York Times best-selling Rose takes us to New Orleans, where police officer-turned-private eye Molly Sutton is tasked with helping a steamy-hot young chef prove that his NOPD dad's death was not suicide. Former director of the Wollongong Writers Festival, Scrivenor delivers the booming-big debut Dirt Creek, in which D.S. Sarah Michaels investigates the disappearance of 12-year-old Esther as she walked home from her rural Australian school even as Esther's classmates offer their own insights (150,000-copy first printing). In Schaffhausen's Long Gone, Det. Annalisa Vega recoups from having turned in her ex-cop father for murder by investigating a detective's suspicious death, which leads her to a slick car salesman trying to charm her best friend (40,000-copy first printing). Walker's popular hero, Bruno, chief of police in the Dordogne village of St. Denis, faces Spanish nationalists with plans To Kill a Troubadour after release of "Song for Catalonia" by a local folk music group.

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2022
At the start of Quinn’s winning 14th Chet and Bernie mystery (after 2021’s It’s a Wonderful Woof), Bernie Little, owner of the Little Detective Agency, and his canine partner and the series’ narrator, Chet, are driving home to the Valley (somewhere in the American west) when Bernie stops the car to slip a few dollars to a homeless man standing by a freeway exit ramp. Bernie is shocked to realize that the man is Rocket Saluka, who played on Bernie’s high school baseball team. Bernie takes Rocket to a burger place, where Rocket shows Bernie a switchblade, his “most valuable possession.” Afterward, Bernie drops off Rocket at the exit ramp. When Bernie later hears Rocket has gone missing, Bernie traces his presence to a homeless encampment, where Chet digs up the knife in the man’s tent. With this as their only clue to his whereabouts, the duo set out on a trail that leads them back to Bernie and Rocket’s alma mater and into a web of crimes that culminates in murder. This entry offers a tidy mystery, a good dollop of action, and a rumination on life after high school—who could ask for more? Chet, with his innate doggie wisdom, is sure to inspire loyal fans and seduce new readers.

June 1, 2022

This 13th outing for detectives Bernie the human and Chet the canine (after It's a Wonderful Woof) begins with them testing out Bernie's latest classic Porsche. At a freeway off ramp, Bernie is recognized by a homeless man who turns out to be a former teammate from their high school baseball days. Returning later to check in, they find the man has disappeared. The priest who oversees the homeless camp where he stayed disappears as well, and Bernie and Chet have a case. The discovery of a body in a pool of water in a slot canyon outside of town complicates things and makes finding the missing classmate even more urgent. Bernie travels back through his past, connecting with friends and teachers from his high school days to piece together the life of his disappeared friend. A handmade switchblade knife with a skull on it provides a vital clue, and perhaps all of it is connected to the disappearance of yet another fellow graduate. VERDICT Fans of the series will enjoy this new entry in the case files. Chet's narration provides humor and insight, and Bernie's search into his own past provides meditations on growing up and growing apart.--Dan Forrest

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.