Tender Is the Bite is the 11th Chet & Bernie PI mystery by Spencer Quinn. Released 6th July 2021 by Macmillan on their Tor Forge imprint, it's 272 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.
This is another fun and engaging read starring Chet (the dog) and Bernie (the human) doing what they do best, solving crimes, righting wrongs, and keeping each other (relatively) safe and functional. Although it's the 11th book in the series, all the books work very well as standalone novels. There are a few minor spoilers in the background story if read out of order, but nothing major.
Probably the most unusual aspect of the story is that it's told in the first person point of view of Chet, Bernie's Dr. Watson. Chet's a Very Smart Dog, but he is a dog and so there are many asides about smelling things and sort of a stream-of-consciousness commentary running throughout. I found it very distracting at first, but after a few chapters it wasn't as noticeable.
For current fans of the series, this is another solid mystery; full of political corruption, voluntary and involuntary disappearances, murders, and several apparently unrelated plot threads which intertwine ever more closely to an exciting denouement and satisfying resolution. The language is a bit rough in places, but not egregiously so. There is some sexual content (mostly discussed in the context of photographic evidence associated with the case), as well as physical violence. It's not over-the-top, but it is there.
Recommended for fans of mysteries with strong animal protagonists, and American PI mysteries.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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