When Madison shows up a few hours later, case closed in Bernie’s opinion, even if he doesn’t believe the teen’s story as to her whereabouts. She’s home and Bernie and Chet have philandering husbands to follow and Suzie, a cute newspaper reporter to impress. Madison disappears a second time and Bernie and Chet are back on the case. 

Cynthia thinks Madison may have run away, or maybe she has been kidnapped as some sort of retaliation for ex-husband, real estate developer Damon Keefer’s bad business acumen. Fired as abruptly as he is rehired, Bernie can’t shake this case. 

Chet is kidnapped, escapes, and faces the business end of a lethal injection at a shelter, rescued by Suzie who just happens to be doing a story on animal shelters. When he and Bernie are reunited, Chet is anxious to tell him he has found Madison and solved the case, but isn’t sure how to communicate what he knows to Bernie and hopes he can remember all the details, because dogs aren’t known for their long-term memories of facts and figures, scents, yes, names, not so much. 

Eventually Bernie and Chet, accompanied by Suzie, get back on track, locate Madison, catch the bad guys and take Bernie’s son Charlie on a backyard camping trip.

A first-rate private eye novel, Dog On It adds a worthy investigator and his side-kick to the ranks of private detectives. Bernie is a little down on his luck: he is divorced and has not yet reached an uneasy truce with his ex-wife; he is down on his luck financially, but he has a good son who he sees regularly, and a great companion in Chet. Chet is a lot of fun: he knows he’s a dog and realizes his limitations, but keeps his sense of humor and figures out how to best use what talents he does have to move the investigation along.  

Set in an undisclosed location in the ubiquitous Southwest, there is plenty of action and an intricate enough plot to keep interest high and the pace moving. Bernie and Chet are a refreshing duo in a field crowded with cutesy and clever animal sidekicks.                          

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry