I have waited (and I’m sure I’m far from the only one) four years for Heart of Barkness, Spencer Quinn’s ninth Chet and Bernie mystery. The previous installment, Scents and Sensibility, came out in July 2015, and (minor spoiler here) left Bernie, the human half of the team, deep in a coma from which no one expected him to recover. No one, that is, except his canine partner Chet, the narrator of the series.
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Quinn took his time getting back to Chet and Bernie. He also writes for middle graders as Spencer Quinn and adult novels as Peter Abrahams, and the Chet and Bernie stories have moved to a different publisher.
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In Heart of Barkness Chet and Bernie become involved with Lottie Pilgrim, a nearly forgotten country singer accused of murder. Bernie is sure there’s more to the story, and Chet, as always, is sure that Bernie is the smartest person in the world. Together they track down the secrets of Lottie’s past, despite her insistence that she’s guilty as charged.
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Somehow Quinn manages to capture the thought processes of Chet (a hundred-plus pound dog of indeterminate breed who flunked out of K9 training—there may have been a cat involved—but landed happily with Bernie Little) without making him sound like a furry human, while still communicating the story. Chet’s memory may be patchy and his attention span short, but he’ll do anything for Bernie. And happily for those of us who love him, a note at the end of Heart of Barkness promises a new adventure next summer.
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The Silence of the Chihuahuas is, alas, the last (to date, anyway) of Waverly Curtis’ Barking Detective series, featuring Pepe, the intrepid Chihuahua private investigator who talks to his 
human partner, Geri Sullivan. In this installment, however, Pepe has stopped speaking to Geri because other people think she’s nuts when she tries to tell them about it. But never fear: Pepe has taken up blogging instead (although he admits that “some dog named Chet” writes an even more popular blog). In Silence, Pepe and Geri’s search for Geri’s long missing sister and her recently missing friend Brad takes them undercover at a mental hospital. Along the way they attend the disastrous wedding of Geri’s ex-husband, deal with Geri’s somewhat loony mentor Jimmy G., and engineer a better fate for Bruiser, a sad dog they met on an earlier case. There’s a murder, a kidnapping, and, of course, a happy ending. (There’s also a bonus Christmas story, A Chihuahua in Every Stocking.) This series is so much fun—I hope the authors decide to continue it.
already know that Valentine first attracted the attention of the local cops (including sexy Detective Romero) when she captured a killer named Ziggy Stoaks by wrapping a perm rod around his, um, private parts. Now it appears Ziggy, or someone acting on his behalf, is back, leaving unwelcome gifts on Valentine’s front porch. But did Ziggy have anything to do with the body in the barrel that rolls down a staircase and splits open at Valentine’s feet? And then there’s Jock de Marco, Valentine’s star employee at the salon, and a rival for Valentine’s affection. What’s a girl to do? In Valentine’s case, fend off a shooter with hand cream and defend herself with a variety of beauty tools.
take over the Mystery Bookshop her late mother has left her. All goes reasonably well until a member of the shop’s mystery book club drops dead during a meeting—after eating Sawyer’s food, at that. As if that wasn’t enough, the man who left Sawyer at the altar years ago is now the town sheriff.
amusing as the previous entries. Not surprisingly, dogs are involved, in this case a quartet of cocker spaniels who have inherited a fortune in trust. It’s also no surprise that there are a number of humans who would like to break that trust, along with some who want to protect the dogs, if only because they benefit from their positions caring for the wealthy canines. The case would be a lot clearer if apprentice P.I. Geri Sullivan and her talking (but only to her) chihuahua Pepe could figure out which side their eccentric boss, Jimmy G, is really working (that is, if Jimmy G is actually working at all). Lots of fun.
(from Scotland to San Fransico) a very old ruby and gold bracelet on the same day he is reportedly killed in an auto accident, Jaya is off and running. What is this piece of jewelry? Who burgled her apartment looking for it? What happened to Rupert?
Sweetbriar is her first attempt at rehabbing a house. With the help of her cousin Buck, she dives into the project, dealing with one disaster after another. But a corpse in the flower bed might just be too much—especially since Nashville police detective Collin Flynn thinks Whitney just might have her own motives for putting that corpse under the topsoil. Every bit as enjoyable as Kelly’s previous series: the Death and Taxes series featuring the hilarious misadventures of IRA special agent Tara Hollway and the Paw and Order series featuring accidental K9 officer Megan Luz and her furry partner Sergeant Brigit. I’ll be looking forward to the next installment.
“Hollywood Bathtub Murders” soon become a sensation; the case involves agents, actors, scandal, bath salts, and more than a touch of Hollywood noir. An entertaining beginning to another series from Henery Press.
romance between the two protagonists, private detective Rosco Polycrates and crossword editor Belle Graham. The book includes several crossword puzzles (which can be downloaded and printed from the OpenRoad Media site, but beware—some of the answers on the site are in error, although they are correct in the back of the book), but I found those too much tied into the narrative to be entertaining as independent puzzles.
boss, Jimmy G (who only refers to himself in the third person) comes along, hoping to score enough moolah to avoid eviction from his office. 
Kay Hudson 