Posts
Lately I've needed light, entertaining reading. There's a time for serious reading, but it's not for me these days. I need stress relief. I need humour. My friend and critique partner suggested these books.
Chet and Bernie are partners in the Little Detective Agency.
Chet, a big black dog who flunked out of K9 school, is the unreliable narrator. Because he misunderstands human speech, taking cliches and metaphors literally, a lot of what he thinks is wrong and funny. He thinks and acts like a dog: getting easily distracted by scents, food, and other animals. In this way he often misses the train of thought of conversation. This is one way the author hides red herrings or important mystery clues: inserting them in a chain of amusing doggie thoughts.
Bernie Little is the private investigator who works with him. His quirks include: fearlessness with everyone except attractive women, fear of public speaking, and an inability to understand some of Chet's hints about things to check out.
Often Chet discovers an important clue but can't communicate this precisely to Bernie. Chet finds things that Bernie can't through his superb canine tracking skills, sense of smell, and hearing.
Some of the titles are: Dog On It, Thereby Hangs a Tail, To Fetch A Thief, A Fistful of Collars, Paw and Order. Oh yeah, the titles are fun, too! (I entered a contest to suggest the next title.)
If you're a writer looking for a great example of unique, strong voice and ways to add humour, you'll enjoy studying what Quinn does.
Even if you just want some suspense flavoured with humour, I highly recommend the Chet and Bernie mystery series.
Cute. Reminded me of this joke, here translated for Hebrew:
ReplyDeleteA man is traveling in the United States and sees a sign that says, "Talking Dog for Sale."
He rings the bell and the dog's owner tells him he's in the backyard.
The guy walks into the yard and sees a beautiful Labrador sitting there.
"Tell me, dog, do you really talk?"
"Yep," the dog replies.
The guy is amazed that there's even a talking dog.
"Well, tell me your story."
The dog yawns, looks at him, and says,
"One day I discovered I could talk. I was a pretty young puppy. I thought the government could use me.
"I told the Secret Service and within two days they flew him to many countries.
I entered the rooms of world leaders and infiltrated the heads of global crime gangs.
None of them believed that a dog could understand conversations and remember them.
I was one of their most important spies for eight years.
But age is taking its toll on me. The flights really tired me out.
From there they transferred me to wander through large airports. I listened to suspicious characters.
I discovered some amazing shady deals and won many medals.
I found a young partner. I have a lot of puppies, noise and commotion and now I'm just retiring.
He asks the dog's owner how much he wants for him.
"Ten dollars."
"Ten dollars? The dog is amazing! Why is it so cheap?"
"He's a pathological liar. He's never left the yard."
Thanks for making me laugh, Mirka!
DeleteThose books sound so cute. I love Mirka's joke, too.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
I'm making my way through the series and and letting M borrow each book when I'm done. But I'm keeping all of them!
Delete