A Dog-Friendly Town

May 1, 2020

Gr 3-7-Cameron takes readers into the world of dogs, their owners, Hollywood drama, and a group of amateur sleuths on summer vacation. Epic, Rondo, and Elvis live in the Perro del Mar, their parents' popular dog-friendly bed-and-breakfast in Carmelito, CA-also known as "America's #1 Dog-Friendly Town." Everyone is abuzz when a few famous dogs descend upon their little town for the 10th Annual Dog Elegance Award Ceremony and Carmelito's Annual Puppy Picnic. However, when one of the dogs' diamond collars goes missing, the siblings find themselves in the middle of a whodunit. With Hollywood dog gossip bloggers lurking at every turn, a rival dog bed-and-breakfast, and a few curious characters, the siblings must act fast before the culprit gets away with it. This book has it all: a captivating plot, an exciting mystery, and likeable characters. There's a lot of players and moving parts, but readers will stay engaged and have no trouble following along. Cameron mixes things up by inserting gossip blog posts between chapters, which expands perspective beyond the narrator, Epic. There are character illustrations in the opening pages, and readers will enjoy putting faces to names. VERDICT A highly enjoyable mystery for upper elementary. A recommended purchase.-Elizabeth Portillo, Finkelstein Memorial Library, Spring Valley, NY

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Starred review from June 15, 2020
Three clever but remarkably quirky siblings and two of their friends take on an infamous and crafty jewel thief. Epic, interested in robotics and facing the challenging transition from a tiny private academy to a large public middle school, is often tasked with keeping an eye on his younger brother, Rondo, who takes detecting very seriously, and Elvis, his little sister, who's just as focused on famous movie-star dog Sir Bentley. Her dream is coming true: Sir Bentley is coming to stay at their parents' dog-centric bed-and-breakfast, Perro del Mar, in the titular "dog-friendly town" of Carmelito, California. Unfortunately, in the middle of the night someone steals Bentley's valuable, jewel-studded collar, and the crime is quickly publicized on dog-focused celebrity blogs. The B&B is full of plausible jewel-thief candidates, most in town for the season's biggest doggie bash, Puppy Picnic. Epic, in his believably (and yet humorously) angst-wracked narration, reports the riveting, evolving developments in a mystery that is thick with red herrings. Short chapters and a breathless pace make this a clever, engrossing plot-driven tale with plenty of unusual, well-developed characters--even the dogs. Epic and his family are white, and opening illustrations indicate that much of the rest of the cast is diverse. Thoroughly entertaining--mystery fans and dog lovers will lap this one up. (Mystery. 10-12)

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Starred review from September 1, 2020
Grades 4-6 *Starred Review* In this decidedly doggy detective caper, the disappearance of a celebrity St. Bernard's diamond-studded collar serves as the MacGuffin for a tale that is as much about facing changes as it is about collaring a crook. As the laid-back California town of Carmelito gears up for a week of massive media events in the wake of being named America's #1 Dog-Friendly Town, 12-year-old Epic McDade struggles to ride herd on his introverted little brother Elrond (Rondo) and wildly extroverted little sister Elvis while their distracted parents ready the family's B&B Perro del Mar. Meanwhile, having just graduated from six years of small, open classrooms and unready to face seventh grade in the town's big, public middle school, he's feeling left behind by his best friend Declan, who's making new friends and embracing the change. Cameron orchestrates the two storylines expertly, positively packing the first with suggestive clues and multiple red herrings as well as winningly diverse arrays of dogs and people while bringing Epic along in believable stages and leaving him good to go as the investigation uncovers all sorts of hidden identities and agendas on the way to a wild scramble of a denouement. Mystery fans will enjoy the multiple twists here; dog lovers will wolf it down.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)