I was kicking back in my comfy chair, my sidekick Charlotte De Ville looked up at the sound of the parcel hitting the doormat like a dead weight.
"What it is, schweetheart?" I grunted.
"It's a parcel, dummy!" she drawled - then her torpor turned to excitement as she read the "DFB" label on the front...
"PHOENIX PHOENIX PHOENIX!" she shouted, and as usual there was a tussle - a tussle I came off worst in. That girl's got a mean right hook.
Moments later, she was sitting there, reading MY post. Sitting in MY comfy chair. Cackling with delight, and that's how the latest in the awesome "The Phoenix Presents" series entered our lives.
Dave Shelton's awesome "Good Dog, Bad Dog" series achieves something I've always been envious of. It gives kids their first taste of gritty detective noir, albeit with a humorous sheen. Kirk Bergman and Duncan McBoo are the titular detective dogs, this time on the trail of a nasty case of 'moider' in Colliewood. The movie world is a seething melting pot of avarice and sin, and it's up to Bergman and McBoo to track down a faceless killer before one of the world's greatest doggie superstars ends up as dog chow.
This collected version of a story that appeared in The DFB and The Phoenix really ticks all our boxes. I love detective noir stuff, and this captures the grim grizzly look and feel of a classic pulp story beautifully. I love the fact that Charlotte took to it instantly too, loving the mix of mystery and suspense.
Glorious stuff. We're anxiously waiting to see whether Dave revisits his doggy detective duo at some point in the future, because we'd really love to see more of 'em in The Phoenix.
Charlotte's best bit: Gripping suspense as the killer is revealed!
Daddy's favourite bit: An utterly fantastic homage to detective noir, beautifully written and illustrated but left us wanting more more more stories featuring Bergman and McBoo.
(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books)
"Good Dog, Bad Dog: Double Identity"
Written and Illustrated by Dave Shelton
Published by David Fickling Books.
Publication Date: 3rd November 2016