Of Mutts and Men is the tenth book in Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie series. Bernie Little is the proprietor of the Little Detective Agency, and Chet, who weighs something over a hundred pounds and flunked out of K9 training on the last day (he thinks a cat may have been involved), is his loyal partner and narrator of the books. Needless to say, Chet is easily distracted (squirrel! bacon crumb!), but he’s always there when Bernie needs him, ready to grab a perp by the pant leg.
Chet and Bernie live in the Valley, in desert country somewhere between California and New Mexico, and Bernie has been worried for years about the depletion of the aquifer that provides water for the area. So when hydrographer Wendell Nero invites him to see something interesting in Dollhouse Canyon, Bernie is intrigued. Unfortunately, all he finds in Nero’s RV office is the scientist’s body, and not many clues.
Bernie does come up with a suspect quickly (more than the local sheriff’s deputy can manage on his own), but soon begins to wonder if he’s rounded up the wrong man. What did Nero want to show him? What’s going on at the vineyard in the next canyon? Who ended up with Nero’s laptop and cell phone?
Of Mutts and Men pits Chet and Bernie against a string of villains and sends them all around the Valley and even into Mexico in search of answers, in another excellent entry in the series. Chet and Bernie’s devotion to each other remains at the heart of these stories.
Bending the Paw is the ninth installment in Diane Kelly’s Paw Enforcement series, featuring Officer Megan Luz of the Fort Worth Police and her K-9 partner, Sergeant Brigit. In this one, Megan and Brigit team up with Detective Audrey Jackson to investigate what appears to be a particularly gruesome murder—lots of blood, but no body. Meanwhile, on her regular patrol duties, Megan searches for a conman who is cleaning up selling nonexistent roofing services to unfortunate homeowners hit by a recent hailstorm. And in between her duties, Megan is planning her wedding to Seth, her firefighter fiancé. (I’m looking forward to seeing how Brigit and Blast, Seth’s bomb-sniffing dog, fit into the wedding party.)
As always, Brigit (who doesn’t speak human and wishes Megan spoke dog) has a brief chapter between Megan’s first person narratives. Always eager to chase someone, Brigit doesn’t worry too much about anything beyond liver treats and chew toys.
Diane Kelly’s books have been on my auto-buy list for years. They always make me laugh out loud at least once. If you’re looking for a light hearted, well constructed mystery full of entertaining characters, you’ll enjoy any of her books.
