IT’S A WONDERFUL WOOF, by Spencer Quinn. A Forge book, Tom Doherty Associates, 2021.
Wow and woof! A Christmas-time cozy mystery with a dog narrator. Who could ask for more? IT’S A WONDERFUL WOOF focuses on the Bernie Little Detective Agency, which consists of two detectives, Bernie Little and his dog Chet. The story opens with a quick punch that literally saves Victor Klovsky, a scrawny private investigator Bernie knows slightly. Victor’s strength is research, but he’s branched out, so he was lucky to have Bernie handle the physical this time.
Neither he nor Bernie has lucrative agencies. So when Bernie gets a job offer from one Lauritz Vogner that doesn’t suit him, he happily refers the man to Victor. Chet, whose skills lie in scent recognition and leaping, has no difficulty recognizing Victor’s scent at the opening scene or later, when Victor goes missing. Bernie, feeling guilty for having gotten Victor into possible trouble, accepts the job of finding him from Victor’s mother, Elise, and sits in for Victor at his mother’s Hannukah ceremony to light candles.
Bernie knows that the case to find Victor likely means figuring out what Victor’s case for Lauritz Vogner involved. And so we again meet Vogner, an oily smelling man with a gun in his pocket. Chet knows so many things through his sense of smell that he shares with us as Chet is the narrator, but Bernie doesn’t always know these things. Another example, the snakes that hide in the dark at the Nuestra Señora de las Saguaros abandoned mission church; and the smell of linen on the rock pile outside.
My Thoughts
The story is cleverly told with Chet’s happy-go-lucky dog personality keeping the cozy beat with his tail wagging and thumping, despite the increasing danger.
The clue-that-could-have-been is another example of the importance of dogs to the story. Iggy, Bernie’s neighbor’s dog, ate it and only a tiny, meaningless fragment is left.
There are plenty of humans in the story, too: Bernie’s minor son Charlie who is a favorite of Chet’s. Johanna Borden, an archeologist with quick, yet sketchy, answers. The police investigator Sgt. Weatherly Wauneka, assigned to the missing persons, who is also a love interest of Bernie’s. And a Father Henry, whose faith in God has failed alongside his relationship with life. To name just a few.
Although Chet doesn’t seem to know that everyone is searching for a possible Caravaggio masterpiece from a brief visit by the artist to the Sonoran desert, he narrates so we can piece the puzzle together. There are dead bodies—three victims in all by the end, three “perps” too. The holiday theme comes through in tinsel, colored lights, and Christmas trees, along with the hora, and the tangled—like a string of Christmas lights-romance of Bernie and Weatherly. Also dog treats.
A very cozy and enjoyable holiday mystery. Recommended for all who like the genre.