Spencer Quinn - Dog on It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery

Pros: Chet's a dog's dog
Cons: the actual mystery's a tad weak

Cynthia Chambliss has a missing daughter and five hundred bucks, but Bernie Little (he of the eponymous Little Detective Agency) doesn't want the job. He feels bad taking her money, knowing fifteen year old Madison will probably wander home a few hours ...

Pros: Narrator's point of view, suspense, humor.
Cons: Nothing, unless you think a dog as a narrator doesn't work ( but it does!)

Chet doesn’t exactly have a memory like a steel trap.  What he can remember fades fast.  You’d think that would make him a bad book narrator, but he tells a great story!  Besides, put a scent in his path, and memories flood ...

Pros: Lively read. Entertainingly told from unique point of view of a loyal canine.
Cons: Chet should know the meaning of some words based on the vocabulary already used

I bought this book due to its unique twist on the narrator's point of view. Though there may have been books written from a dog's point of view before, this is the first (so far as I know) in the detective genre. And despite this being a first novel ...

Pros: Great dog, touching, deals with doggie issues.
Cons: Mystery a little boring, Bernie character too typical.

Note: this review gives away some minor plot details. Not too much, though.It's good to take book recommendations from friends. This is a book I never would have picked up for myself. However, a friend of mine who does not read very much ...