While Spencer Quinn’s very popular, very enjoyable, Chet and Bernie series is filled with marvelous mysteries, including the newest one, “A Farewell to Arfs,” we read the novels for the pitch perfect narration by perhaps the most lovable of canine characters, Chet. This story begins with Chet and Bernie’s elderly neighbors, the Parsons, losing their life savings.
What happens is that Daniel Parsons gets a call from his son Billy, who asks to borrow $2,000 just for the weekend because of a financial problem. Mr. Parsons readily agrees, but when he checks his bank account the next day, he finds that their life savings is gone. Bernie takes him to the bank, and the police are called. Billy says he hasn’t talked to his father for a while, and he definitely didn’t make that call. But Billy is an ex-con, and Bernie’s not sure that Billy isn’t somehow involved in the scam.
And just as I was thinking that the scam part of the plot sounds a bit like Spencer Quinn’s previous novel, “Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge,” at the bank, the reporting officer from the fraud squad remarks, “Did you hear about that old lady in Florida? A grandson impersonator in her case. It was on the news. I’ll be damned if she didn’t hop on a plane to Romania to get her money back.” Shades of Mrs. Plansky, the main character in that very delightful novel, especially for those of us “of a certain age.”
But after the scam, the plot thickens. Unlike the dry, clear air in the desert setting in which most of the Chet and Bernie stories take place, the plot thickens like a New England fog in a gothic novel. It turns out that Billy has redeemed himself since his less-than-law-abiding days. He now runs an organization that helps former prison inmates go clean, find work, and live productive lives. But after the scam on his parents, Billy disappears. His girlfriend says he occasionally is out of town helping former convicts, but Bernie is worried that there is more to the disappearance.
In trying to find Billy, Chet and Bernie meet a unique cast of characters. Some are from Bernie’s past, some are new, and we also find that Chet often knows more than Bernie does, thanks to his super sleuth of a nose. Speaking of Chet, it’s because of that personable pup that these mysteries are so incredibly popular. We love Chet. We love hearing his thoughts because they are so doggy-perfect. It’s as if Quinn got into the mind of his dog and learned to speak dog. An example is when Chet and Bernie are driving, and Chet sees a cat in the car next to them. He starts thinking about how when he sees a cat, he can’t think of anything else.
Chet explains, “Your mind just goes CAT CAT CAT until finally it ends, you give yourself a good shake, starting at the head, rippling through to the tip of the tail and back again, and then your mind returns to its peaceful resting state, mostly blank. But here’s the worst part. While your mind is going CAT CAT CAT, the cat’s mind is doing nothing of the sort. What the cat’s mind is doing I couldn’t tell you.” There are more Chet-isms as we are reminded that only occasionally can Chet count past two. But Chet is there in his finest form when Bernie needs him and especially when Bernie’s life is at stake because of guns pointed at him, or other dangers that loom in the private investigator line of work.
Bernie is far from perfect, and he and Weatherly may or may not be getting married. Will Bernie be able to convince Weatherly to overlook his sometimes brutish behavior? His overwhelming need to protect those he loves whether or not they want him to? Bernie may make mistakes and antagonize people, but we know his heart is made of pure gold, which just happens to be one of Chet’s favorite flavors.
As we knew would happen, Chet and Bernie prevail. And as those regular readers of the series know, Bernie’s bank account at the end of the story is no greater than it was at the start. Bernie’s investigative skills are only surpassed by the generosity of his spirit. Readers adore Chet, but we also respect and admire Bernie. And we can’t wait for their next adventure.
If this is your first Chet and Bernie adventure, consider reading some of the previous novels. I’d highly recommend “Up on the Woof Top,” “Bark to the Future,” “Tender is the Bite,” and “Of Mutts and Men.” There are many more, and each is delightful.
This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.