RAIDERS OF THE LOST BARK by Spencer Quinn
Fiction, Mystery, #17 in Chet & Bernie Mysteries
4****

Blurb: The desert hides many secrets. The Little Detective Agency, consisting of Chet the dog, “the most lovable narrator in all of crime fiction” (Boston Globe), and his human partner, Bernie Little, are good at digging up secrets―Chet especially―but now they face their most baffling case yet. Nothing in their investigative career so far has prepared them for competing paleontologists, the viciousness of academic infighting, or the slow-motion wiliness of a giant desert tortoise long thought to be extinct. Chet and Bernie were about to be hired by Maya Lakey, a legendary paleontologist nearing the end of her career―but she never gets the chance to tell them why. That’s not something Chet and Bernie can ignore, and questions arise right away. Were two deadly falls, many years apart and both ruled accidental, connected? Who paid for a clifftop safety fence and why? What does a non-speaking, dog-loving survivor know, and can Chet somehow learn what’s in his memory? No one is making it easy for the duo. There’s a rogue sheriff who knows more than she lets on, a retired cop with a collection of gleaming Porsches, and evidence of someone high up pulling the strings. As danger swirls around them, Bernie and his girlfriend Weatherly are trying to plan their wedding, and everyone is angling for an invite, including Dippy, a perp who specializes in stealing wedding cakes and holding them for ransom, and Robespierre, an ancient desert hippie who may have all the answers.

THOUGHTS: This is the first book I’ve read in this series, though I don’t feel like I was missing anything for not having read the first sixteen. I found it interesting – and different – that this book is written completely from Chet, the dog’s point of view. I thought it was funny in some areas where we have the conversations he hears and the actions of Bernie (his human) as opposed to what Chet thinks. This means that we really don’t know what’s going through Bernie’s mind concerning the mystery involved, though Chet does a good job of letting us know from his perspective. I also wouldn’t call this exactly a cozy mystery – though not hard core either. Bernie is a professional PI who works with the police, while most “cozies” involve an amateur sleuth and not a professional.

In this one, Chet and Bernie are looking into the death of a professor of paleontology, Maya. They met her first when they rescued her from an old acquaintance who had just escaped from prison. A couple days later, she calls them to hire them, but wants to see them at a particular mesa. When they get there, they find her dead, supposedly from a fall. But Bernie isn’t so sure. And when he starts looking into her death, he discovers her husband had died also from a fall twenty-three years ago. That really sends up the red flags so he digs deeper and finds some disturbing coincidences. It’s up to him and Chet to figure out exactly what happened and why – and who.

Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” Thanks to Netgalley and Minotaur Books for providing this ARC.