Audiobook Review: Bark to the Future by Spencer Quinn + reminder of tonight's Just Desserts meeting

Bark to the Future
by Spencer Quinn (audiobook-on-cd ordered through InterLibrary Loan — libraries only own in physical book format)

 

This is the 13th entry in the Chet & Bernie mystery series, by Spencer Quinn, which are told from the point-of-view of Chet the dog, the canine partner of private detective Bernie Little. I particularly enjoy all entries in this series as audiobooks, read by James Frangione (which I have had to order through the libraries’ InterLibrary Loan service since the Lincoln City Libraries haven’t been buying the audiobook versions since the 7th in the series back in 2015).

 

In this latest installment (another is due in late 2023), an encounter with a homeless man panhandling at a highway off-ramp turns personal for Bernie, who recognizes the man as a former teammate on Bernie’s high school baseball team. “Rocket” has obviously fallen on some hard times, and may also be facing some mental and emotional challenges. But when the troubled man disappears, Bernie and Chet start digging into his background, as well as the history of some of Bernie’s other former classmates. Included in their investigation are several visits to the “slot canyons” in the desert outside the (unnamed) U.S. Southwestern city where Chet and Bernie live.

 

Frangione once again captures the overly-enthusiastic yet easily distracted voice of Chet’s story narration perfectly. And the unswerving love of Chet for his human “partner” is always appealing in these tales. The fact that this case is so close to Bernie’s own life adds a certain level of poignancy, and even if the ending is a tad bit predictable, the process of getting to that ending is the true joy in reading a Chet & Bernie story.

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try all of the Chet & Bernie novels and short stories, by Spencer Quinn, preferably as audiobooks if you can find them!)

 

( official Spencer Quinn (a.k.a. Peter Abrahams) web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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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If you're a mystery fan, you're invited to join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight, May 25th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October. This month's is our annual "Series Share" meeting -- all participants are encouraged to read the first or second entry in any new mystery/suspense/thriller series that has started in the last two years (2021-2023), and report on your opinion about it to the group in a Round Robin discussion format.

 

Even if you haven't read anything for this specific discussion, you can still participate, and learn about great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

Book Review: It's a Wonderful Woof! by Spencer Quinn

It’s a Wonderful Woof!

by Spencer Quinn (Quinn)

 

This is one of the few books that I have checked out based on the cover only. This book is a mystery featuring a wonderful dog, Chet, and his human partner, Bernie, who just happens to be the other half of this detective agency. The story is all told from the point of view of the dog, so as you can imagine, he does get distracted once in a while by squirrels, food, and other dogs. I enjoyed this book very much, mainly due to the point of view. Looking at situations from a dog’s perspective is a creative way to handle a story, even if it is difficult to follow at times. My only complaint with the book is that I felt the mystery was solved a little too quickly. I liked the fact that the book dealt with a missing painting by one of the Grand Masters — a little art history and archaeology thrown with murder and romance!

 

(Spencer Quinn has another series featuring Bowser and Birdie, written for middle-grade readers.)

 

( official Chet & Bernie page on the official Peter Abrahams / Spencer Quinn web site )

 

For more mysteries featuring dogs, check out our The Sleuth Said Woof! booklists here on BookGuide, recently updated and expanded!

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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!

If you're a mystery fan, join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight,April 28th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October. This month's book for discussion is "The Plot" by Jean Hanff Korelitz -- although if you haven't read this specific book, you can still participate! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

Book Review: Heart of Barkness by Spencer Quinn (as an audiobook)

Heart of Barkness
by Spencer Quinn (as an audiobook)

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 ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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!

Scents and Sensibility by Spencer Quinn (audiobook-on-cd)

Scents and Sensibility
by Spencer Quinn [Compact Disc Quinn] 

This is the ninth volume in the mystery series featuring Bernie Little and his dog Chet (“the jet”). Narrated from the point-of-view of Chet, this particular volume features some major developments in Chet and Bernie’s world. First, after the previous two volumes in the series took Chet and Bernie out of their standard Arizona setting (first to Louisiana Bayou country in The Sound and the Furry, then to Washington D.C. in Paw and Order), in Scents and Sensibility, the due is back home in “the valley”. The case they get involved with is extremely personal, with Bernie’s elderly neighbor Mr. Parsons being victimized by his just-out-on-parole son, and Bernie stepping in to help him out. Additionally, as he digs around, Bernie ends up butting heads with a corrupt cop — and we learn about the circumstances that caused Bernie to end his police career several years earlier. And finally, a little puppy (introduced briefly in an earlier book in the series) named “Shooter”, who bears a distinct genetic resemblance to Chet, becomes a major new character in the novels.

I continue to enjoy this series as audiobooks (in this case books-on-cd), with narrator Jim Frangione doing an absolutely perfect job of capturing Chet’s personality with his voice. If you can, and you’re interested in mysteries told from unique character points-of-view, I can’t recommend this audiobook series highly enough. This particular volume is a return to high form for Spencer Quinn (actually Peter Abrahams writing under a pseudonym), after a couple of occasionally lackluster volumes in the past couple of years. I’m also looking forward to reading Woof! — the first in a new series for youth readers, featuring Bowser and Birdie, a dog-and-a-pre-teen-girl pair of sleuths.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try al the earlier volumes in the Chet & Bernie series by Quinn.] [ official ChettheDog.com web site ] | [ official Spencer Quinn (Peter Abrahams) web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read or listened to this? 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 reviewers recommendations!