THEREBY HANGS A TAIL: Chet and Bernie Mystery #2 - Spencer Quinn, narr Jim Frangione

From the back of the BOCD: Spencer Quinn caused a sensation with the publication of his debut mystery DOG ON IT. Now he follows the critical success of that New York Times best-seller with this secondtale starring down-on-his-luck private investigator Bernie and his four-legged partner Chet, a K-9 school dropout.

Hired to investigate threats against a prominent show dog, Chet and Bernie barely have time to roll their eyes before things get serious. Princess the pampered dog and her owner are abducted--and Bernie's occasional girlfriend, reporter Susie Sanchez, disappears as well. When the intrepid sleuths are separated, it falls to Chet to sniff out the clues and save the day--not to mention find his way home.

Told from Chet's perspective and featuring the humorous ramblings of a dog like no other, THEREBY HANGS A TAIL is another winner from an author whose star keeps rising.

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I listened to DOG ON IT (review in link) a few months ago and became enamoured of Chet and Bernie...mostly Chet. The story told from the point of view of a smart dog was a very neat premise. Add that to the well written mystery and it was a winner.

THEREBY HANGS A TAIL was equally as good. It doesn't go all Disney and have all the dogs talking to each other. It's just Chet doing the narrating, leaving it sort of noir-ish in feeling. There's the down on his luck PI, the sassy reporter girlfriend of the DOHL PI and there's the dog. Perfect.

Bernie is a good PI, but a little naive when it comes to finances, making bad investment choices in tin futures from a guy who even Chet knows is a shyster. Bernie has to take the job as the bodyguard of the pampered show dog, Princess, just for the dough.

Then the dog and her owner go missing and no one knows nuthin'...Chet and Bernie on the case.

Darkly funny and a fab mystery..I can highly recommend this series.

Five dog-earred beans....