Cat on a Hot Tin Woof by Spencer Quinn

Cat on a Hot Tin Woof

by Spencer Quinn

Minotaur Books, April 2026

Once a series has gone beyond the first few books, you're bound to run into the obligatory "reintroduction" paragraph in later installments. In the case of Spencer Quinn's Cat on a Hot Tin Woof, the sixteenth book in his Chet and Bernie mystery series, it shows up on page two. The intrepid, adorkable Bernie Little has taken his latest Porsche to Nixon Panero, his favorite mechanic. Bernie's sidekick Chet, a ferocious-yet-friendly canine who was kicked out of police school, is with him. And as Chet is also the perpetually upbeat, constantly distracted narrator of the series, this reintroduction does double duty. It gives new readers a taste of what's to come stylistically, and it reminds old readers exactly why they return to Quinn's beloved series again and again:

My Bernie! Where to even begin? How about with that nose of his, not much good at smelling things, of course, but one of the bigger human noses you’ll come across, putting Nixon’s to shame. There’s all kinds of beauty in life. That’s one of my core beliefs. Not a straight nose, by the way, on account of some dustups Bernie’s been in, all of them ending the same way, with the bad dude on the ground and Bernie on his feet. Bernie told Weatherly—I’ll try to get to her later—that he’ll have his nose fixed when his dustup days are over, which I hope is never. That’s how much I love that sweet uppercut of his. You can—well, I can—actually hear his fist whooshing through the air, although when it lands on some deserving chinny chin chin, it makes just a soft click, almost silent. Then the perp’s eyes roll up and we’re done. But don’t go thinking all our cases end like that. Most end with me grabbing the perp by the pant leg. Some end with both at the same time! The success of the Little Detective Agency, leaving out the finances part, is no surprise, baby. We’re partners, me and Bernie. His last name’s Little. Call me Chet, pure and simple.

Quinn—aka best-selling, award-winning, veteran author Peter Abrahams—wastes little time setting the stage from here. As Nixon pitches Bernie on a screenplay side hustle based on Bernie and Chet's adventures, two of Nixon's customers approach them. Bitty and her mother Evelyn overhear them talking and want to hire Bernie to find Bitty's cat. Far from a case worthy of the Little Detective Agency, Bernie declines, but then he discovers Bitty is a famous influencer on Slickety. Famous as in rich. Millions of followers. And her cat, Miss Kitty, is the star of her show. Without Miss Kitty, Bitty will lose her sponsors, her agent, and her career. Worst of all, Miss Kitty is Bitty's best friend. She's devastated. This last piece of information pulls at Bernie's characteristically generous heartstrings, so he takes the case.

Before long Bernie and Chet are up to their collars in clues. Evelyn's ex surfaces as a suspect, until he turns up dead. Twice. The only witness is an ornery porcine named Señor Piggy, who vomits up a clue of his own. When Bernie finally reports the murder to the cops, he becomes a person of interest. Keen interest. As Bernie works to solve both mysteries while keeping the cops off his back (including a particularly savvy undersheriff named Peaches), he gets tangled up in his own ex's marital woes, stumbles into a pair of gun-toting cowgirls, wrestles with a spiteful Slickety scumbag, and challenges a crooked businessman who's as charming as an old chew toy.

If that sounds like a lot, it is. Cat on a Hot Tin Woof might be a tad more complicated than the average Chet and Bernie mystery, but it won't lose readers. Longtime fans will find it delightfully familiar and as entertaining as ever. They'll be thrilled to spend a few more hours with Chet, Bernie and other loveably quirky characters who by now have become old friends. Newcomers to the Chet and Bernie series can easily start here and go back and read the previous books later. Each book is a standalone mystery; there's no need to read them in order. Of course, part of the appeal of the series is listening to Chet drop references to his and Bernie's past adventures. If you hear him mention Mama the alligator, or their favorite coffeeshop/brothel, or an ill-conceived investment in Hawaiian pants, before you have a chance to encounter them for yourself, you're at no risk of feeling cheated. You could also start with several Chet and Bernie short stories where you'll meet the oft-maligned cat who got Chet booted from police school. Start the Chet and Bernie series with Cat on a Hot Tin Woof, or start where you like, but by all means start.

Jim Abbiati is a writer, book reviewer, and IT professional living in Mystic, Connecticut. He's the author of Fell's Hollow, The NORTAV Method for Writers, and has an MFA in Creative Writing from National University. Learn more at https://jimabbiati.substack.com/