SPENCER QUINN

 American detective novelist Spencer Quinn enjoys great success among readers of compelling mystery novels. When asked how he would describe his life, he replied, “I wake up happy every day, but why?” By now, it's well known that Spencer Quinn is the Chet and Bernie books pseudonym for Peter Abrahams. Spencer Quinn’s books include the wildly popular Chet and Bernie series, and the mystery novels Dog on It, To Fetch a Thief and Thereby Hangs a Tale. The Chet and Bernie series stars Chet, the lovable canine narrator of Dog on It, who works alongside Bernie, a down-on-his-luck private investigator. Chet might have flunked out of police school, but he's a detective through and through. The first of Spencer Quinn’s books was born when his wife suggested he write a book that, in some way, involved dogs. With this basic, though yet not fully formed, concept in mind, he began with two detective pals as the main characters, the four-legged one being the narrator of the story. An important element in Chet and Bernie books would be to avoid giving the dog human characteristics. He would remain a dog, through and through. Spencer Quinn, whose favorite authors are Graham Greene, Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Philip Larkin, and P.G. Wodehouse, lives on Cape Cod with his wife and children—and his dog, Audrey. This bestselling American detective novelist is currently working on a new mystery novel, the next Chet and Bernie book, of course.