Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn

This wonderful book is a mystery story with a twist – told entirely from Chet the dog's perspective. Bernie Little is a private detective and together with his dog Chet they make the best crime-solving team. In this case, their client is Cynthia, a mother desperate to find her daughter Madison who has been missing for 8 hours – the police won’t look into it until 24 hours have passed. Bernie and Chet don't usually do this kind of thing but they need the money so take the job.

Chet and Bernie go to Cynthia's house to gain information about Madison but just as they are leaving, Madison arrives home. She explains where she has been but Bernie quickly ascertains that she is lying. When Madison disappears again, her mother waits over a day to call because she turned up before. Things work out rather differently this time as Bernie’s car tyres get slashed and Chet is injured.

The police believe she has run away and are not very concerned but Bernie and Chet continue to look for Madison. This story is well written and although I thought I knew the 'what' for a while, I hadn’t figured out the 'why' until the end.

Spencer Quinn has written several other titles in this series including Thereby Hangs a Tail and To Fetch a Thief (both on Libby). Although I slightly skimmed some parts to get to the 'why' in the plot, Spencer Quinn has easily become a new favourite author. He also wrote the Bowser and Birdie series which is in the Junior Fiction section at the Library.

Posted by Andrea

Catalogue link: Dog on It