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One of my surprise reading delights in 2009 was DOG ON IT, the first in the Chet and Bernie mystery series. My crime fiction preferences normally lead me down the dark streets; certainly, a book narrated by a dog wasn’t going to be something I enjoyed. Much to my astonishment, I loved the book and its unique approach, despite the fact that doing so severely damaged my bad ass credentials. But then I was left to wonder – did this concept have the bones to sustain an ongoing series? Based on THEREBY HANGS A TAIL, I’d have to say "sort of." Chet (the dog) and Bernie (the man) are the principals of The Little Detective Agency. From Chet's point of view, Bernie is a genius about most things. The two of them are a great working team. Their latest case involves a celebrity dog named Princess who is being stalked while in town for the Great Western Dog Show. When Princess and her owner go missing, Chet and Bernie find themselves deep in the nefarious world of competitive dog shows. When the partners become separated, Chet manages to follow the trail to Princess. Even though she has led a pampered life, the little dog has some unexpected feistiness. At the same time, Bernie's friend and unacknowledged love interest, reporter Suzie Sanchez, disappears. Part of the fun of DOG ON IT was the innovative use of the dog as the narrator of the book. The concept doesn't quite hold up the second time around. Many of Chet's actions and reactions seemed to be duplicates of the first outing. They didn't feel as fresh and at times became rather irritating. For example, over and over again Chet will start to tell a story and then stop, promising to continue later—but then never doing it. In addition, the plot was lacking in originality. This was the second time that Suzie was the damsel in distress and that Chet and Bernie got separated in the course of an investigation. The core of this series' appeal is the relationship between Chet and Bernie. I preferred the first book because of its originality. It's hard to see where Quinn can go with the dog-as-narrator approach, since it quickly loses its novelty. THEREBY HANGS A TAIL is an amusing book, but not one that is particularly satisfying.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, March 2010
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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