The Sound and the Furry: A Chet and Bernie Mystery (6) (The Chet and Bernie Mystery Series)

if you love dogs, understand their point of view and like a good action story with some human interest, this whole series is well worth your time.

This sixth mystery in the Chet & Bernie series takes place in the Louisiana bayou where they are searching for Ralph Boutette, a missing member of a family with which Chet and Bernie have had previous contact. I’ve read and loved all the books in the series, and I picked this one up late at night when I knew I had only a few minutes to start it. Within the first few pages, Chet’s attitude toward life had become infectious and I went to bed with a smile and lightness of spirit. The only thing that kept me from reading the book in one sitting was the desire to live in Chet’s world a bit longer.The Louisiana setting provides great opportunity for Chet to encounter previously unknown challenges such as fishing nets that seem animated and intent upon pulling him toward the bottom of the ocean, the ocean itself extending from the bayou, and an alligator living in that bayou. As always, Chet the Jet comes through adversity with flying colors, or at least that’s how he remembers it. Chet remains a very positive guy, with just a dash of introspection. His understanding of himself goes only so deep, however, and more often than not is pleasantly humorous. As Chet and Bernie are flying down the highway, Chet is feeling decidedly undisturbed by events in the plot that have Bernie wondering about wishful thinking. “A puzzler. Was there a kind of thinking that wasn’t wishful? I found myself…wishing the answer would come to me, and began to feel vaguely disturbed after all.”In addition to a possible kidnapping, the plot involves a shrimp heist, a family feud, drug dealers, and an oil drilling company’s perfidy. How they all fit together is part of the fun of the book, so I won’t spoil it. With the book being told from Chet’s perspective, the sensory descriptions place the reader right into the location. The smells and sounds, and to a lesser extent the sights, of the landscape bring it to life. Chet’s character is the most thoroughly developed even if it is quite straightforward, and through the device of having Chet experience confusion at other characters’ interactions with Bernie, Bernie’s character is more nuanced than it would be if seen only through the lens of Chet’s adoration. The plot is complex and twisty, but Chet and Bernie persevere through it all, overcoming odds and perps, to solve the case.This is a great series with each book building on the previous one. However, Quinn makes it possible for the new reader to jump right in with any book. THE SOUND AND THE FURRY would be a great place to start if you haven’t met Chet’s and Bernie’s acquaintance yet. I imagine that once having met them, you’ll want to join them on all their other adventures.

The Sound and the Furry. What a great title. And what an underwhelming book. I've read all the Chet and Bernie stories and have very much enjoyed the series, but what was once fresh and new has become tired and formulaic.Bernie is broke. No matter what happens, he's always broke, and despite being 'the smartest human in the room', he can't balance a check book. It was funny at first, but now, I'm kinda scratching my head saying, 'Wake up, Bernie, and cash the check before he go to Louisiana!" And in the end, Bernie is once again offered enormous sums of money from 'bad' people that he refuses. I don't blame him for refusing, but the scenario is tired.Suzie is jealous and has trust issues. When will she ever wake up and realize that Bernie loves her and is faithful to her? How many times must we watch her travel to see Bernie, arrive and find him in an awkward situation and immediately assume he is cheating on her? And then drive away without waiting for an explanation while Bernie babbles on inarticulately? Relationships can't work without trust, but no matter what happens, Suzie always assumes the worst. She's like the anti-Chet.Bernie has friends in strange places. They credit him with being a fabulous person who saved lots of lives. Then the case Bernie's working on gets complicated and suddenly the friend isn't much of a friend anymore. Rick Torres usually plays this role as well (forever fed-up with, then angry with, then ultimately ok with Bernie, until the next novel). In The Sound and the Furry, however, there's no resolution with the 'friend'. He just disappears.And then there's the ending, an ending so hastily written even Chet seemed confused. What was up with Mack? What was going on in Alaska? Was it connected or not? Why did Bernie take the job--he says at one point it is because he thinks Ralph would be a nice guy to meet, but they spend ZERO time together for all that--no talk of jazz or dogs. So therefore?And then there's the little things, such as the still-unresolved continuity error of Chet having memories of the Leda Days, when the canonical novella 'A Cat was Involved' clearly indicates that Chet and Bernie met well after the divorce. If they remarried and THEN had Charlie? In all this time, how could Chet have no brought that up? Oh well.On the plus side, Chet is, as always (and here it's a good thing), an engaging and hilarious narrator. With the coolest collar ever.

Chet the police dog K-9 academy flunk-out is once again the narrator of this 6th entry into the entertaining Chet and Bernie mystery series. Chet and his human partner, private investigator Bernie Little, get a case from one of Bernie’s earlier collars who is, as Chet colorfully terms it, “wearing an orange jumpsuit and breaking rocks in the hot sun”: prisoner Frenchie Boutette’s brother Ralph has gone missing and Frenchie hires Bernie and Chet to head to Louisiana to find him. There the dynamic duo tangle with oil company goons, drug dealers and just plain bad guys while trying to find the brilliant inventor and loner Ralph Boutette. Many adventures ensue and the dramatic scenery of bayou country is vividly evoked by Chet’s colorful narration, which contains many intriguing descriptions of the exciting aromas Chet’s exquisite canine sense of smell detects. The animal life in the bayou holdsome unwelcome surprises for Chet. As always, Chet is “alert and professional” riding shotgun in the third Porsche Bernie has owned since the series began and, as always, due to his fabulous sense of smell and his very keen night vision, Chet knows who the bad guys are long before Bernie is able to figure it out from the clues his inferior human senses can detect. A particularly exciting and different entry into the Chet and Bernie series and highly recommended.

Not your usual P.I. mystery, but one fun read! Done from the point of view of a dog,but doesn't detract from The story!

I just feel tip top when I read these books. And any book with regular meal breaks has got to be good.

loved this book written in the words of a dog. very amusing and I could just imagine all the events happening

best dog narrator in the world, look forward to his next story.

Fab!

Love all the Chet and Bernie books. If you like dogs, mysteries and a good read, you'll love these books!