Jack Russell Dog Detective #1 introduces a small dog with big wit, an uptown setter named Red, and a down-on-his-luck terrier called Foxie. The book, strangely enough, reads with the immediacy of a Judy Blume book, fashioned in first-hand observations that are wry and to-the-point.
Jack Russel moves with owner / Sergeant Sarge to Doggeroo to make his first significant “nose map” discovery: an old boot with a strange dog’s smell in the yard. Jack's Facts -- Jack’s doggy insights -- follow:
“Jack Russells (and other dogs) like to hide underneath blankets.
If we can’t see you, you can’t see us.
This is a fact.”
But Jack’s nose map becomes vital when he discovers a crime: Someone stole his squeaker-bone. A full-fledged mystery ensues as Red, the uptown setter, complains of a missing ball. So Jack investigates, following scents and ending up in the dog den of an abandoned house. Here, he makes a witty but imperfect guess. Add to the wit Jack's inspiration, here:
“I’d solved the case of the Doggeroo Dog Den, but I couldn’t make an arrest. Sarge would arrest dognappers.”
Before reading this book, I wondered how a dog’s life could turn into an entrenching plot. But Jack Russell is so lifelike the authors must have been dogs in their past lives! It’s a howling shame real dogs can’t hail these characters!
*Visit the authors' "Jack Russell Dog Detective" site by clicking the link below.
Sara