Dog on It

There's a new detective on the mystery scene. He's shoeless, never takes off his fur coat, and can follow a scent along any trail. Meet Chet, the canine sleuth who's not a sidekick or a talking dog, but the first-person (first-dog?) narrator of his own story. Jim Frangione gives Chet a laid-back confidence combined with animal innocence. He excels at the chatty "just-between-you-and-me" asides Chet favors. Although the exact location of the Little Detective Agency and Chet's breed (large, black-and-white, pointed ears) are never specified, the story is well drawn, with Chet frequently in scenery-chewing peril. The fur-footed non sequiturs are funny and the danger biting. A second mystery is due out next year. As Chet would say, what's more fun than this? M.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine