Author Spencer Quinn packs a lot into this short story. It’s Christmas, and a small-time crook has a new gimmick: selling Christmas cheer. Bernie bites, but the party doesn’t live up to expectations. Santa doesn’t show, and his elf helper makes off with some loot. Bernie and Chet go after the duo, to make things right. After all, it’s Christmas! It’s a cute story, lighter in tone than the novels. And it’s nice to see Bernie and Chet in a holiday mood. The audio version, as usual, is well performed by Jim Frangione. ( )

audio - dog mystery series (short story), set in Arizona ( )

Chet and Bernie, in a Christmas mystery only Chet and Bernie could unwrap. Or get wrapped up in, or something.

It's "every second Christmas" this year, Bernie's son Charlie is with them for the holiday. Bernie has really fallen down on the "getting ready for Christmas" thing, and they happen to run into an old perp Bernie helped lock up, now done with his short stint in jail. And Plumpy Napoleon has a new business, Santa 365. For just a small fee (which oddly keeps growing), he'll supply elves, gifts, a tree, everything! It'll be a blowout Christmas.

Of course Bernie invites Susie, and also Charlie's friend Esmé. Then Bernie's mother, Minerva, who has dumped her latest love interest, calls from the airport for him to pick her up.

It really is a grand party, but when it's time to clean up, Chet and Bernie discover that the elves were a little light-fingered. Leaving Charlie with Minerva, they hop into the Porsche to track down Plumpy, and along the way meet some other victims of his fraud and theft, including two elderly sisters who come armed.

Chet the dog's naration remains as plausibly dog-like as ever in this short story, understanding what humans don't (the information carried by the scents humans can't decode nearly as well, and not understanding what humans do--the nuances of human language and social interactions.

It's a lot of fun, as usual. Recommended.

I bought this audiobook. ( )

Perhaps reading a novella for the first book in a series was not the best idea, but I was not impressed. Bernie is a private detective and the story is narrated by his dog Chet. Bernie is divorced but this is his Christmas with his son Charlie. When they arrive at Bernie's house there is a red van in the driveway. It belongs to "Plumpy" Napoleon. He is recently released from prison on parole after being put there by Bernie and Chet. He is in the business of Christmas so convinces Bernie to purchase his services for a party. The party is fun, but Santa never shows. After the party Bernie is robbed so he sets out to look for Plumpy. He finds the elf from the party and finds out that he is related to some of Plumpy's victims. They look for the money that was never found, ya da ya da. Pretty simplistic plot line.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Santa 365 is not the first story we’ve reviewed by Spencer Quinn. A few years back we reviewed A Fistful of Collars, a full-length Chet and Bernie mystery novel from this bestselling series. The link appears at the end of this article. I got such a kick out of this sleuthing man and dog duo that I planned to read all of the Chet and Bernie mysteries but somehow slipped up on that. Since then quite a few more have been published, including several bargain e-short stories like Santa 365. Before we dig into this story, there are a few things you should know. First, Spencer Quinn is the pseudonym for award-winning U.S. crime thriller novelist Peter Abrahams. You also need to know that in the Chet and Bernie mysteries series, Chet is the dog and Bernie Little is the man, and both work at the Little Detective agency. Oh, and Chet is our narrator. Read the rest of this review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=8767 ( )