Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

This would be a pretty typical private investigator story - girl goes missing, family hires Little Detective Agency to find her, car chases ensue, several plot twists and eventually a happy ending.

But the book is instead made extraordinary by its narrator: Chet, a dog who is half of the Little Detective Agency (his human, Bernie, is the other half). While the story is related as if Chet is telling you the tale, at the same time the reader recognizes we're the only ones who can hear Chet: he's just a regular dog. OK maybe not "regular" - he's K9 trained - but certainly not super-powered or talking or anything.

Chet is a great character, and a great dog. He's as likely as any dog to get distracted by treats or cats or other animal invaders (his downfall, as the K9 final exam demonstrated). He understands some things about the human world, and other things leave him absolutely bewildered.

This is the first book in a new series of "Chet and Bernie Mysteries." I just received an uncorrected reader's proof of the second, "Thereby Hangs a Tail" (release set for January 2010).

I can't wait for more Chet!