The latest “Chet & Bernie”
mystery novel, told from the point-of-view of Chet, the noirishly-inclined and
enthusiastic — if easy distracted — canine partner of human sleuth Bernie
Little, is a return to the popular series after a gap of four years, during
which author Spencer Quinn (actually an alias for Peter Abrahams) branched out
with two new series for youth (the Bowser & Birdie series [3
volumes so far], and the Queenie & Arthur series [also three
volumes so far], and the stand-alone adult novel The Right Side). I’ve missed Chet & Bernie, and they
don’t disappoint in this new tale, which involves Bernie looking into the
questionable details when a fading country music star is arrested for the
stabbing death of her overbearing agent/manager. Bernie doesn’t think she could
have done what she’s accused of, but his digging into the case may unearth some
secrets that somebody wants to keep buried in the past.
As usual, I enjoyed this as a
Book-on-CD audiobook, narrated by Jim Frangione. Frangione is absolutely
perfect as the audiobook narrator for this entire series (this is volume 9 so
far with a 10th coming in 2020). Chet is one of the most unique narrative
voices in the entire mystery genre, and Frangione brings Chat’s “voice” to life
with perfection. Strongly recommended for fans of this series, or for anyone
wanting to enjoy a mystery with a compelling and quirky narrator.
[
official Heart of Barkness page on the official Spencer Quinn web site
]
Have you read or listened to
this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?
New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!
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