Thereby Hangs a Tail: A Chet and Bernie Mystery (The Chet and Bernie Mystery Series)

I love mysteries. I love dogs. I love books that make me laugh. Thereby Hangs a Tail has all three. Chet, the K-9 narrator of the story, continually makes me smile. This book is the second in the Chet and Bernie mystery series. (Dog On It is the first book.) In this story, Chet and Bernie are hired to protect Princess - a pampered show dog - but before they can even start the job, Chet has an unfortunate incident with a dog treat (sometimes his self-control is not the best) and they get fired before they can even begin! But when Princess and her owner are kidnapped, Chet and Bernie are back on the job. The plot includes a ghost town, murder, hippies and a currupt sheriff of a tiny town. When Chet and Bernie get seperated, Chet has to set off across the desert trying to find his way home. He stumbles upon Princess along the way. The scenes between Chet and Princess are really cute and precious. In this second installment of the series, you get a bigger glimpse into Bernies mysterious past - his time in the military - but since the story is narrated by the dog, you don't get as much detail about personal things. It's always sweet though, how Chet believes Bernie is the "smartest person in the room". The author does a great job of portraying the loyalty of a dog to his "owner". And Bernie's deep feelings for Chet, too. The mystery is not the most complicated. (Spencer Quinn is no Agatha Christie.) But it's satisfying enough and I always prefer stories where the good guys win. Chet spends most of the book just wanting to "grab the perp by the pant leg." If you want a book with a nice mystery that will make you smile, giggle or laugh out loud, you won't be disappointed by Thereby Hangs a Tail. (Just a note, the book does include bad language, including using the F-word and the Lord's name in vain.)

This second book of the series by Spencer Smith has all the snap and pizazz of the first, "Dog On It." The twist of the tale being told through the eyes of Chet, the faithful and adoring canine best friend of private investigator Bernie, does not get old. Hilarious ruminations from a dog's eye view pepper the book with laughs even as Chet and Bernie get into one scrape after another. The one small glitch is the predictable side story of Chet getting "lost," only to be reunited with Bernie through a confluence of circumstance and coincidence. But overall, the book is quite fun, with the story neatly wrapped up as Bernie solves the mystery through street smarts and dogged determination with help from his canine companion--pun intended! In Bernie, Smith has created a smart, tough crime solver whose character is nicely balanced by his apparent puzzlement when it comes to dealing with the women in is life. The combination makes him quite loveable. Like the Seely Booth character of "Bones," Bernie is ex-military; a guy who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps, can handle himself in a fight, and who's heart is stalwart and true. The combination of man and dog and a good story make this series irresistible.

There is a science fiction book where an extraterrestrial is a main character. I didn’t much like the book but in the afterword the author told me something I never forgot: it’s awfully hard to write anything from the point of view of a nonhuman. Well in this book the author does just that! With a deft element of humor too, easily appreciated by those who have shared a house with a dog. It almost seems like the author knows what the animal is thinking. The book is presented first person by the dog, Chet. And he’s painted with a deft touch — he washed out of police K-9 training and his human partner also has a chequered past. As a pair of misfits they are unstoppable at solving crimes. Especially if you have or at one time had a dog, Chet rings profoundly true. He’s not Lassie, he’s more like a real dog who knows he’s supposed to round up the perps but sometimes gets distracted by a squirrel. The story takes place in “the Valley”, not so familiar an environment for east coast readers but it deals with universal human (and doggy) themes. If anything the second book is better than the first. Great entertainment!

Best private eye duo ever. I love the narrative by Chet. So uplifting and funny. Both he and Bernie are smart and never give up. Their teamwork is unmatched.

Another charming tale of the adventures of Chet-the police academy K9 flunk-out—and his human partner Bernie Little the PI. The book offers a complex mystery involving a kidnapped show dog and 2 missing women with many plausible red-herrings to keep readers guessing. As in the first Chet & Bernie book, this one is filled with Chet the dog’s many illuminating insights into the canine mind and particularly Chet’s very unfavorable view of everything relating to cats. As when Chet believes that a yawning cat sitting in a window—across the street!—has yawned in Chet’s face “just to infuriate me.” In fact, Chet admits,”Every single thing cats do infuriates me, if you want the truth.” And Chet doesn’t like horses either, whose really skinny legs make Chet think about sidling up to those skinny legs and maybe doing something he shouldn’t. A book offering book many chuckles and genuine thrills is a rare pleasure. Grab this one and enjoy. Highly recommended.

I love these books! I love Chet who's a great narrator. My 15-yr-old grand-daughter loves these books. Her 17-yr-old brother enjoys them. I haven't found anybody yet who's read even one of them that doesn't. You might even say we're addicted. Not a bad thing if we are. It's cheaper than expensive cars or booze and safer than drugs. 'nuff said? Go get Dog on It; read it. Then read this one and To Fetch a Thief. You can thank me later.

Bernie is a very appealing PI — a crack shot, crafty at interrogating sleazy suspects, always pawning his most precious possessions to pay for bad investments, constantly worrying about the water supply and other deep issues, a romantic at heart, and devoted to his canine partner Chet. As for Chet, he’s a great guy in a fight. No dog can leap higher or knock the gun out of the hand of a bad guy faster. His nose is is infallible, in fact it’s Chet’s nose and Bernie’s brain that make them such an effective team. This book presents them with a case of two disappearing women, one a rich countess, one one of them Bernie’s journalist girlfriend. A famous show dog named Princess has also disappeared. Chet is destined to have interesting adventures with Princess. Bernie is destined to unmask and disarm some very unlikely bad people, with Chet’s assistance. I’m completely charmed by this series.

Plot/Storyline: 3 Stars As much as I enjoyed the first book because it was narrated by Chet, the dog, I found this one to be a bit monotonous. This one was also completely narrated by Chet, which, while charming in the first book, it got old fast in this second installment. This was mainly because I expected a faster plot in this second book, since the cuteness of having a dog narrator had worn off. Having Chet narrate really slowed down the storyline. I watched an animated movie recently where the dogs wore a device that allowed them to speak. It was cute, especially the parts where they would get easily distracted and yell, "Squirrel!" Yes, it was funny, but at least it was only in the second half of the movie. In this book, Chet was constantly getting distracted and talking about various things other than the mystery going on. This got so repetitive that it became annoying about halfway through. The plot was also pretty simplistic. I had the perpetrators figured out about halfway through the book. It was not a very deep mystery, at all. As new and interesting as having a dog narrator was, I really felt the story could have benefited from having alternating narrators. Also, more effort should have been put into the mystery itself. Character Development: 3 Stars Chet, of course, had about as deep a character as a dog could be. He was funny and interesting, in turns. What I really liked about him is that his actions never strayed further than what an actual dog would do, even though I am certain that "real" dogs don't understand near as much of human language as he did. I expected a little more development of Bernie in this novel, but he was just the same old Bernie from the last book. He never grew as a character. Bernie's love interest had very little part in this book as far as character development. As a matter of fact, what little part she did have was just irritating because of her actions. If Chet could have witnessed a little more conversation between them at the end, it might have been better. Writing Style: 4 3/4 Stars The writing style was just as good as in the first novel. I found myself wondering if hte author himself ever got tired of `writing as a dog', though. I think it must take a unique personality to be able to stay so in character as Chet. The sentence structuring was very good, but almost too complex at times, considering the narrator. The dialogue was very realistic.