Review by Pam Marr Rybinski
This, the newest of Quinn’s Chet and Bernie series, offers action and reflection-filled drama with our erstwhile favorite private detective team, Chet the Jet, the 100+ pound canine narrator, and Bernie Little, former law-enforcement dropout. Human fists, police-style collars, at least four canine collars, and the agonies of love surface when the Valley becomes the setting for an old-style Western cowboy movie.
Tinseltown’s popular actor, Thad Perry, for some reason does not want the Valley to be the chosen location. He’s famous both for his acting ability and for his self-destructive behavior, and says he’s never been in the Valley before.
In spite of past mutual bad vibes, the town Mayor enlists Bernie to keep an eye on Perry. He and Chet are to keep the popular actor out of trouble with drugs, women, and other misadventures. Bernie wonders, why them? However, the agency is short of cash again, and the pay is almost too good to be true. As usual, nothing is quite as it seems. Quinn’s come up with another winner: good guys, bad guys, dogs, cats, love, despair, all made right by Bernie’s intuition, Chet’s sense of smell, and the willingness of each to die to save the other.
