Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Dog Who Knew too Much, Spencer Quinn


The Dog Who Knew too Much, Spencer Quinn
This is the fourth in the Little Detective Agency run by Bernie Little and his Ace sidekick, Chet the Jet, the four legged and brainier of the two.  I have loved this series, but keep wondering when the premise will grow old, when Chet will have used up his bag of tricks .  The answer is – not yet.
This is a kidnapping case with a wonderful group of loony characters for our heroes to interact with, get beaten up by, and ultimately outsmart.  Like Chet, the women in Bernie’s life are also smarter than him, but he is persistent and in the end it is his dog and his doggedness that saves the day.
Lost in the woods or snatched,  murders in a gold mine, hippies, bad sheriffs and judges, moron deputies, a self-absorbed camp counselor and a bad guy who is overwhelmed by the other bad ones makes this a maze of characters and in the end you know all the ones that need to pay a price – will.
So as usual, Chet has to handle a part of the case on his own while Bernie is out of commission and despite the fact that he doesn’t really know what he is doing, he does the right thing and saves the day with smiles, human, and satisfaction.
So is this the end?  Have we run the gamut of dog detective stories?  All I know is that like Chet, there is a little black puppy running around with one black and one white ear.  Could there be more to the partnership?
“Featuring canine narrator Chet and his human companion Bernie—“the coolest human/pooch duo this side of Wallace and Gromit” (Kirkus Reviews).

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