Heart of Barkness
(Chet and Bernie Mystery #9)
by Spencer Quinn
This really was an incredible story/plot! I found it slowed down a bit too much about halfway through then kicked right up again. Worth the wait. Would have been a solid 5 for sure! I enjoyed it anyway. This was the only book I figured out before the ending. I still enjoy this series! ( )

After a C-note that Bernie had put in a singer’s tip jar is stolen right in front of everyone, including Chet, the two take off after the thief. This begins a merry chase that leads them back decades to a cold case, and then to a current one that involves murder. Secrets, cover-ups, and the framing of an innocent woman all factor into this story. It’s a love story gone bad, perfect for the county singer this tale revolves around. As with the rest of this series, the real enjoyment comes from Chet’s doggy narration, always a skewed delight. ( )

I know I can turn to the Chet and Bernie Mysteries whenever I need a smile. They give me a convincing and funny dog's eye view as Chet the dog works with his partner, the P.I. Bernie Little, to solve a mystery. As I read the first three books, ‘Dog On It’, ‘Thereby Hangs A Tail’ and ‘To Fetch A Thief’ kept getting better and better.

Some of the books aren't available as audiobooks in the UK so I decided to skip forward in the series to the ninth book, 'Heart Of Barkness' so my wife and I could listen to it on a couple of long and boring car journeys.

Chet is a wonderful narrator. Spencer Quinn knows dogs and has the skills to get you inside Chet's head where optimism always overcomes adversity and difficult ideas, slip through his mind too fast to grab hold of. We found ourselves laughing out loud several times at Chet's one-liners. Here's an example. Bernie is sleeping after having recently returned from hospital. Chet has just done something he's pleased with and, in his excitement, has made his way into Bernie's room is now standing over Bernie as he sleeps. This is his reasoning:

I knew two things for sure. One - he needed his sleep. Two - I needed a treat. Right there is why it's usually better to know just one thing.

Then there are short lines like:

'There was no time to think. This is when I'm at my best.'

'Heart Of Barkness' kept us amused throughout our drive but it was a little light on plot and a little too heavy on Chet one-liners by comparison to the previous books. The country and western theme didn't work well for me and the conceit the plot was based on was far-fetched, even for something as light as this.

Still, I'll be coming back for me Chet and Bernie the next time I want to be sure of a smile.
( )

Chet and Bernie are back, with Bernie just being released from the hospital after his injuries at the end of the previous book.

Susie Sanchez has come back from London, but only because she feels they need to make some real decisions. They both want to be together, but how badly? Working for the Washington Post is her dream job. Bernie loves what he does, and his son, Charlie, lives in the valley with his mother and stepfather. A tough decision is coming.

So when Bernie is given tickets so oldtime country singer Lottie Pilgrim singing at a local bar, he and Chet go to see her perform. This draws them into a case that starts with a stolen hundred-dollar bill, and leads to dead bodies, broken hearts, and a really complicated family tangle that has nothing to do with Bernie's family.

Soon they're meeting Lottie's boyfriend/manager, who may have other connections, the thief,who turns out to be her grandson, her daughter who hates her. A drive down to the Mexican border leads to Bernie meeting the brother of a long-ago boyfriend and music partner of Lottie's,Chet meeting a horse named Mingo (Chet does not approve), and visiting a grave.

It's a very tangled mess, and it takes both Chet's and Bernie's talents to untangle it in time.

Along the way, Bernie is troubled by Susie's not unreasonable need for a decision, and occsionally distracted by Eliza, a lovely lady who is also the doctor who attended him in the hospital.

It's another fun entry in the series, and Chet is as lovable as ever.

I bought this audiobook. ( )

DESCRIPTION, NOT REVIEW: Chet the dog, “the most lovable narrator in all of crime fiction” (Boston Globe) and P.I. Bernie encounter heartache and much worse in the world of country music. They’re both music lovers, so when Lotty Pilgrim, a country singer from long ago, turns up at a local bar, they drive out to catch her act. Bernie’s surprised to see someone who was once so big performing in such a dive, and drops a C-note the Little Detective Agency can’t afford to part with into the tip jar. The C-note is stolen right from under their noses – even from under Chet’s, the nose that misses nothing – and before the night is over, it’s stolen again.
Soon they’re working the most puzzling case of their career, a case that takes them back in time in search of old border-town secrets, and into present-day danger where powerful people want those secrets to stay hidden. Chet and Bernie find themselves sucked into a real-life murder ballad where there is no one to trust but each other. ( )