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Let’s start this conversation with an apology. The first time Spencer Quinn was a guest on Mr. Media, to talk about the first two “Chet and Bernie Mystery” novels, I thought it would be clever to proceed as if I were interviewing Chet, who is the voice of the books. Chet, incidentally, is a dog. SPENCER QUINN podcast excerpt: "The whole (dog as narrator) is over-the-top, but I want this to still seem like a real story." I realized after a few minutes of conversation that that didn’t go over well with Quinn. And it has taken me a couple of years to get up the nerve to invite him back. He had every right to tell me to, well, you know... But he didn’t. Of course that was an audio-only podcast and this is video, where I can clearly see that my guest is a human being. The Chet and Bernie Mysteries are an engaging series of crime novels, typically set out west, featuring former cop and now private detective Bernie Little and his dog, Chet. Every story is told in Chet’s voice, which means the narrative is sometimes interrupted by a cat, a smell, the need to relieve the author’s kidneys... I’m sure you get the idea. SPENCER QUINN podcast excerpt: "Chet the Dog can only tell us the things the dog would perceive from a situation. In terms of the past--and memories--it's all very disrupted and fragmented. But certain things are incredibly strong. Things having to do with sense of smell, sense of hearing. That's where he's way ahead of Bernie. So sometimes the reader is also way ahead of Bernie" Put another way, where Sherlock Holmes has his Watson – often to put the reader off track – Bernie has his Chet. Their latest adventure takes the pair across the country to Washington, D.C., ostensibly to reunite with Bernie’s girlfriend, Suzie, now a reporter at the Washington Post. But it doesn’t take long for a dead body to appear and the Little Detective Agency is on the scent. And so, with profound apologies for my previous approach, CHET THE DOG • • • •