under the balloons. Members of the nation within lay in the shade, their tails still.
After that we drove around the Valley, handing out wads of cash to everyone on the list. We got hugged and patted and kissed, and I chowed down on snacks out the yingyang. And when it was all over, we still had our ten percent! Bernie counted up the money. âOver ninety grand here, big guy.â He separated it into two stacks, one big, one little. Then we drove back to Ocotillo Springs, went to the fundraiser and handed the woman the big stack. Were we still rich? I thought so.
Some time later, we realized weâd forgotten all about Elrood. We hurried back to Plumpyâs wrecked crib, but found that Elrood was already gone. The duct tape was neatly in place, not torn or twisted, like it was still confining an invisible perp. You see everything in this business.
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We used the little stack to throw another Christmas party. Would you believe it? This Christmas party was even better than the first one! We had live music, for one thing. Rickâs uncle Hector came.Uncle Hector was a handsome older dude with a string tie. He was great at a very strange sort of dance called the cha-cha. It turned out that the cha-cha was Bernieâs momâs favorite dance. Cha-cha went on all night long. Were we still rich? I thought so.
SCENTS AND SENSIBILITY
â We hopped in the Porsche, me in the shotgun seat, Bernie behind the wheel, always our arrangement, with the exception of one time Iâd rather forget when we got it reversed. Usually Iâm brilliant at forgetting, so why couldnât I forget that particular episode? Letâs drop the whole subject. What to remember is that riding shotgun in the Porsche just happens to be my favorite thing in the whole world. Our rideâs been a Porsche ever since the start of the Little Detective Agency, which had to be when I joined up, unless I was missing something.â
Loyal, brave, and fearless, Chet (the canine companion to private investigator Bernie Little) doesnât miss much, even if he canât always remember what it is that he knows. In the eighth book in this bestselling, beloved mystery series, Bernie and Chet return home from a long road trip to find themselves in an unusually prickly situation. First, Bernieâs wall safeânormally hidden behind the waterfall picture in the officeâis gone, and with it Bernieâs grandfatherâs watch, their most valuable possession. And next door, old Mr. Parsons is under investigation for being in possession of a saguaro cactus illegally transplanted from the desert. Bernie and Chet go deep into the wild to investigate. Is it possible that such a lovely old couple have a secret in their past?
Chet and Bernie discover bad things going on in the desert, far worse than cactus smuggling, and all connected to a strange but innocent-seeming desert music festival called Cactus Man. They unearth clues that take them back to a long-ago kidnapping where the ransom money disappeared even though the kidnappers were caught. Stirring up the past brings our detective duo to the attention of a ruthless and charismatic criminal with a cult following, a criminal who sees at once what Chet and Bernie mean to each other and knows how to exploit it.
Chet and Bernie are in top form as they face real danger in their own backyard, take on some seriously bad dudes in an unforgiving environment, and discover unexpected truths about their own natures.
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About the Author
Randi Baird
Spencer Quinn is the author of seven previous bestselling Chet and Bernie mystery novels. He lives on Cape Cod with his dogs,