TENDER IS THE BITE

4 stars out of 5

When a pooch is allowed to take over the job of story narrator, things quickly go to the dogs. In this case, it's Chet - canine companion of private eye Bernie Little - who does his usual job of helping his human partner solve cases, interspersing his reactions to real danger with the humorous "Chet-icisms" that make him so lovable.

This is a favorite series of mine, although I must say this isn't my favorite entry (no particular reason, I guess, except that the plot and characters, with the exception of Bernie and Chet, just weren't as interesting to me as usual. As this one kicks off, Bernie discovers that a woman is following him as he is driving around (with Chet riding shotgun, as always). Finally, he stops and she pulls in front of him and says she needs help - but then second thoughts creep in, apparently, and she drives off again. Curious, Bernie sets out to find her.

When Bernie gets a physical address, he and Chet stop; another woman living there takes off as well, leaving behind her pet ferret named Griffie (much to the consternation of Chet, who isn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of giving up his catbird car seat to the wiggly critter, much less living with him). At another stop, though, a man swoops down on Bernie's convertible and sweeps up Griffie. Chet's delighted to be done with him, but Bernie's curious enough to decide to start detecting even though nobody is paying him.

The chase leads to at least one dead body, several serious threats to the lives of Bernie and Chet and to a police officer named Weatherly, who has a dog that has markings eerily similar to Chet. A coincidence? Maybe, maybe not; you'll have to read the book to find out. As for me, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for once again allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy of the latest installment in this thoroughly entertaining series.

Tender is the bite by Spencer Quinn (Forge Books, July 2021); 272 pp.