To Fetch a Thief

Starred review from July 26, 2010
When Peanut, the elephant star of the Drummond Family Traveling Circus, goes missing, along with elephant tamer Uri DeLeath, Uri's tearful clown partner, Popo, seeks the help of canine detective Chet the Jet and Chet's human partner in cracking crimes, Bernie Little of the Little Detective Agency, in Quinn's terrific third Chet and Bernie mystery set in "the Valley" of an unnamed Western state (after January 2010's Thereby Hangs a Tail). Sgt. Rick Torres of Missing Persons adds his considerable expertise, but it's Chet's fearless nose for clues that leads them on a strange odyssey that becomes downright hairy after Uri's found dead in the desert from the bite of an illegal African puff adder. Quinn, the pseudonym of suspense author Peter Abrahams (End of Story), radiates pure comedic genius via Chet's doggy bright narrative. You don't have to be a dog lover to enjoy this deliciously addictive series.

August 15, 2010

Chet, canine half of the Little Detective Agency (Thereby Hangs a Tail, 2010, etc.), is just the sleuth to find a missing circus elephant.

No doubt about it: Peanut is the star attraction of the Drummond Family Traveling Circus. So Bernie Little and his son Charlie are disappointed to find a "No Show Today" sign on the big top when they arrive with their free tickets. Both the precocious pachyderm and her trainer, Uri DeLeath, have disappeared. Popo the Clown hires Bernie to find the missing pair, but it's Chet who follows Peanut's scent right past the security booth. Could guard Darren Quigley be slacker enough to have missed an escapee the size of Peanut? When Quigley points Bernie in the direction of Free All Animals Now, Chet's nose—however disappointed by the aroma of Nadia Worth's chili, which turns out to be vegetarian—says the animal-rights activists aren't hiding the missing circus beast. Acrobat Ollie Filipoff says he saw an 18-wheeler marked with four roses on its side on the circus grounds the night of the disappearance. But Tex Rosa, owner of Cuatro Rosas Trucking, says all his rigs were out of state that night. When Darren's thuggish friend Jocko attacks the pair with a baseball bat, Chet saves Bernie's bacon ("Bacon? There'd been bacon last night?" wonders Chet) and Bernie realizes that whoever kidnapped the circus pair isn't playing for peanuts.

Tender-hearted Chet and literal-minded Bernie are the coolest human/pooch duo this side of Wallace and Gromit.

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August 1, 2010

In Quinn's third series entry (after Dog On It and Thereby Hangs a Tail), the man-and-canine duo take Bernie's son to a traveling circus, where they discover that the main act, Peanut the elephant, has vanished along with his trainer. Bernie investigates at the urging of his son and then finds a client in Popo, the clown. The police believe that the trainer took the elephant and joined an animal rights group, but Bernie disagrees. Even when the trainer turns up dead, having been bitten by a puff adder, the police would rather take the easy way out. But Chet, a dog who flunked out of the police academy, and Bernie doggedly continue on the trail of the pachyderm kidnappers. VERDICT Dog lovers and fans of humorous mysteries will enjoy this. There is humor and action, followed by more humor and suspense. Highly recommended. [Quinn is the pen name of thriller author Peter Abrahams, and more adventurous readers may want to try his darker books of psychological suspense.--Ed.]--Susan Hayes, Chattahoochee Valley Libs., Columbus, GA

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