Thereby Hangs a Tail

January 4, 2010
Taking the genre for another refreshing spin, Quinn brings back Chet, the 100-pound crime-fighting canine he introduced in last year's Dog On It. Once again narrated by Chet, this volume finds dog and owner, private investigator Bernie Little, down on their financial luck and looking into threats against a pampered celebrity show dog named Princess. Before long, Princess and her wealthy, high-maintenance owner are abducted, along with the newspaper reporter who was covering the case, Bernie's on-again off-again love interest, Susie Sanchez. The trail leads the four-legged detective and his bipedal partner to a creepy ghost town, where they're separated; with a bit of doggie diligence and good luck, the duo reunites and unravels a messy conspiracy involving a corrupt small-town sheriff, a disgruntled dog trainer, and two hippies who can't stop listening to "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." Chet makes a clever narrator, thinking like a human but often confounded by figures of speech ("crocodile tears," "red herring"), and Quinn manages to keep things both humorous and suspenseful while delivering a proper, satisfying whodunit.

December 1, 2009
Quinn brings back the PI duo of Chet and Bernie (Dog on It, 2009) for their second adventure. Their latest job seems too good to be true: provide bodyguard service for a prize-winning show dog and get paid $2,000 a day, that is until the mistress and dog are kidnapped a few hours after arriving in town. Missing persons are Bernie and his dog Chets specialty, and they investigate with vigor. As in Dog on It, Chet narrates the entire book, and his doggy point of view is refreshing and consistent. Despite not always being able to focus on long conversations and getting distracted by snacks and smells, Chet is clearly the better investigator of the two, and his narration pulls the reader along as if on a leash. This fast-moving and fun series entry will certainly please Chet and Bernie fans as well as gain new readers with its all-ages appeal. Expect this series to become the hot new thing in animal mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)