To Fetch a Thief, Spencer Quinn, Atria, $15.00.
Like the other similarly cleverly named books by Spencer Quinn, Dog on It and Thereby Hangs a Tail, this book is narrated by Chet the dog, whose human partner, Bernie, is the owner of the Little Detective Agency. There are few enough twists left to give the standard private eye novel, but this is a new slant entirely, and it’s an entirely charming one. You may not enjoy this as much if you don’t own a dog (or have ever owned and loved a dog), but that caveat will no doubt cover many, many readers.
Chet has very believable “doggy” attitudes – he’s pretty focused, but he can be distracted by smells, food, and others “of his kind” (i.e. other dogs). He also has a refreshingly doggy attitude toward life – what’s better than riding shotgun with his pal Bernie? For Chet, life is a simple matter of affection and loyalty, there are no distractions as far as those things are concerned.
In this volume, Bernie and Chet are called in when a circus elephant (and her trainer) disappear, a fact discovered by Bernie when he takes his son to the circus. As Chet has never smelled anything quite so strong as an elephant, tracking her is the easy part, though it’s not so easy to find out what happened to an elephant apparently wandering the hills of L.A. Her trail only goes so far. And the trainer is even more difficult to follow.
As Bernie unravels the case it become clear that Popo the clown and the elephant trainer, Uri, had a romantic partnership, and Popo is the one who ends up hiring Bernie to find Uri (and Peanut, the elephant). This is hardly a novel that endorses circuses though is becomes clear that Uri was a humane trainer, thought of as an “elephant whisperer.”
As Chet and Bernie’s paths diverge toward the end of the novel, and Chet and eventually Peanut have their own adventure, separate from Bernie’s, the originality of Quinn’s idea really takes shape. The reader is given a dog’s eye view of human proceedings, some of which are mystifying to him, and all Chet really wants is to be back with Bernie. The adventures of Chet and Peanut are probably the strongest part of the book, where the meeting of two very different animals provides a very deep look into animal behavior.
This book is funny and charming and has a well plotted story with enough twists to keep human readers guessing. The characters of Chet and Bernie are so well thought out, and so convincing, that it’s easy to suspend disbelief and not think about what a really, really smart dog Chet would actually have to be to be narrating this book. It’s enough that Chet is really, really believable. You can’t help but look forward to Chet (and Bernie’s) next adventure.
The Lost Women of Lost Lake, Ellen Hart, Minotaur, $25.99.
Ellen Hart is the best writer you’ve never heard of. This is her 26th book, the 18th in her fine Jane Lawless series. Jane is a Minneapolis restaurant owner who solves murders in her spare time – thus, she’s the very definition of amateur detective. She’s gay and since the death of her partner Christine, she’s drifted from relationship to relationship. Jane is also the calm center of the storm in every novel; while everyone around her reacts to events, Jane deducts and analyzes.
Hart is also one of the best contemporary practitioners of the traditional mystery – if you’re a fan of Agatha Christie, you’re probably going to enjoy Ellen Hart, with her crisp plotting, no nonsense pacing, and vivid characters. Several of her novels are among my favorite contemporary mysteries – The Iron Girl and An Intimate Ghost being particular favorites. This latest novel is a worthy addition to a solid series.
Hart often structures her stories using traumatic past events that are shaping the present. In this novel, the past of two women in the Minnesota resort town of Lost Lake come to light, and because one of the women, Tessa, is a friend of Jane and the flamboyant Cordelia Thorne (Jane’s sidekick, though if Cordelia were actually real I don’t think she’d care for that term), the two women step in to help when Tessa sprains her foot. The sprain, of course, is only the tip of the iceberg.
It becomes clear that Tessa and another woman in town were responsible for a death, and there’s a stranger in town asking uncomfortable questions. When a few deaths follow the stranger’s arrival, there’s a perfect snarl of tangled relationships, old tensions, and kinship that make Jane’s look at the crimes a difficult task. One of the threads involves the nephew of Tessa and her partner, Jill, who has run away from home and come to Lost Lake to live with his aunts. One involves the nephew’s former girlfriend who seems to be involved with his thuggish former best friend, and of course the main thread involves the rearing up of Tessa’s past as it threatens to engulf everything in its path.
As always, Jane’s deductive skills are superior as she untangles the web of circumstance and mysterious past events that lead to a solution. What makes Hart a contemporary mystery writer is the fact that her characters are fully fleshed out, and the psychological underpinnings are complex and realistic. She may tell a story with Christie’s bravura, but she also brings a contemporary storyteller’s toolbox to the table. There’s nothing not to like in these novels. Dig in.
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