The Dog Who Knew too Much (2011) is Spencer Quinn's fourth Chet and Bernie mystery. For fans, there are 16 books in the series with Raiders of the Lost Bark due out next year.
My first reaction was, who wants to read a mystery narrated by a dog? But Chet is an extremely engaging character. And Quinn (the pen name of Peter Abrahams) has done a remarkable job of creating a convincing canine.
Chet was thrown out of K-9 school because of an unfortunate incident with a squirrel. His senses of smell and hearing are far superior to human, which comes in handy, He cannot count above two. He is fanatically loyal to Bernie who is the smartest human on the planet. In addition to place names, he is shaky on cause and effect. He pretty much lives in the present, taking events as they occur, spending little time in memory.
The Dog Who Knew too Much begins with a worried mother hiring Bernie to find her 12-year-old son who was supposed to be at a summer camp in what sounds like the Sierra Mountains. Chet and Bernie visit the camp and they are exploring an old mine with one of the locals who was with the boy on a sleep out when he disappeared. Chet and Bernie following the boy's scent become separated from their guide and he is murdered.
Before the book ends, Bernie is locked up for the murder; Chet, restrained by collar and chain, is brought back to the city; Suzie, Bernie's girlfriend, a reporter, uncovers (with Chet's help) corruption in high places; and Chet, Bernie, and Suzie pre-empt the FBI's arrest of the malefactors.
Except for my impatience with Bernie (signing a document without reading it for a guy he should know better than trust) and a question of how Chet managed to escape the collar, the book is a delightful romp.
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