Well, since I hadn’t finished much of anything until yesterday, it seemed fruitless to post. Now I’ve got two, so I’ll do one now and save the other for later.
And now, on to . . .
Full title: The Sound and the Furry
Author: Spencer Quinn (a pseudonym of Peter Abrahams: 1947- )
Year Published: 2013
Series: Chet and Bernie (book 6)
Book Source: Borrowed from the library
Publisher’s summary: “When Chet and Bernie happen upon a prison work crew that includes Frenchie Boutette, an old criminal pal they sent up the river, getting a new case is the last thing they expect. But Frenchie, who comes from an old Louisiana family full of black sheep, needs help finding his one law-abiding relative, his brother Ralph, a reclusive inventor who has gone missing with his houseboat. At first it seems as if Ralph’s disappearance is connected to a dispute over a load of stolen shrimp. But the investigation heads in a dangerous new direction involving the oil business and an impending environmental catastrophe.” (From the library catalog, since I’ve returned the book)
My thoughts: Ok, let’s start out with this: I love Chet, and I wish I had a big, stupidly smart dog like him. When I was growing up, we had a big white collie, and he was a great dog: loyal, smart, minimally intimidating, excessively hairy, and paranoid of getting his feet wet. I’m mostly a cat person, but big, lovable dogs definitely have their place. And Chet’s place is definitely on my shelves.
Bernie Little and Chet are, in some respects, a traditional detective and amanuensis: the sidekick is a little dumb, but lovable and a good narrator, and the detective mostly uses him as a sounding board, occasionally holding back clues turn out to be vital. One major difference, though–our narrator is Chet the K9 unit dropout, who provides all the laughs, most of the heart, and a decent amount of the action. From his short attention span to his ridiculously high spirits, he’s a quintessential dog, and that’s really the best part about this series. The mysteries are okay–not excessively fair, but not off-the-wall–the minor characters are often colorful, and there’s a little bit of romantic and otherwise backstory running through. But there’s really no reason why I’d bother reading the series so faithfully if it weren’t for Chet’s narration.
Thus far, the series has confined itself geographically to the Southwest, and there has been a persistent sub-theme devoted to the environment and its water crises. Now, as the Little Detective Agency travels to Louisiana, the environmental hazard in question is oil drilling–which is, in my mind, something of a spoiler, though apparently the copy writer didn’t think so.
This installment is a little more laid back in pacing than some previous ones, though there’s a moderate amount of violence, including a lengthy near-drowning sequence which had me at once rather bored and rather uncomfortably aware of my own breathing. (Admittedly, I’m somewhat inordinately afraid of drowning, so that’s a personal issue: any scene involving the inability to breathe underwater will seem to last far too long for me.)
On the negative side, some of the minor characters–especially the female ones–seem even more cliched than usual. Off the top of my head, there are really only three and can be described as “distant but jealous girlfriend,” “mysterious nymphomaniac,” and “canny, oddball Southern old lady.” I can’t say the mystery was all that subtle, either: I knew who the villain was the first time he appeared. But really, I didn’t mind any of this all that much, since I read them to listen to Chet’s impressions of life, and so read the novel in one afternoon. All’s well that ends well.
In short: A solid, if unexceptional installment in a great, dog-narrated series.
Reading at whim 