Staake, Abrahams To Sign New Books In Chatham

The popular, prolific and acclaimed authors of two new books featuring animals — Peter Abrahams of Falmouth and Bob Staake of Chatham — will sign their books this weekend in Chatham.

 The latest mystery novel by bestselling author Abrahams, who writes his “Chet and Bernie” series under the pen name Spencer Quinn, is “A Farewell to Arfs” (Forge, 2024). Abrahams is a 2006 Agatha Award winner and a 2010 Edgar Award winner.

The “Chet and Bernie” series is narrated by Chet the dog, a “hundred-plus-pounder” with mismatched ears, who serves as Dr. Watson to PI Bernie Little’s Sherlock Holmes. The pair are partners in the Little Detective Agency in a valley in Arizona. Most of their mystery adventures take place there.

 “A Farewell to Arfs” is the 15th in the series and Abrahams’ 47th novel. And here’s a funny thing: The series, which can be laugh-out-loud funny but has also had its touching moments, has become downright affecting. In “A Farewell to Arfs,” we observe Bernie’s tender care for his next-door neighbor, Mr. Parsons. A pivotal funeral scene is moving, but when the Parsons’ normally crazy, manic dog, Iggy, becomes depressed — well, let’s just say the reader’s heart goes out to Iggy as the story progresses to its satisfying conclusion.

Is this a fair reading of the work? Have the books taken on a new emotional profundity?

 “I’m actually hesitant to look under the hood of my own work — maybe kind of crazy — but I think you’re right about this. As for why, I’m not sure. Maybe it has to do with some inner change in me!” Abrahams said during an email interview last week. “There’s a surprising range, it turns out, in having a canine narrator — but not a talking one!”

In “A Farewell to Arfs,” Mr. and Mrs. Parsons lose their life savings when their bank account is drained through a scam. Mr. Parsons believes he was merely giving his only son, Billy, a modest loan. But before disappearing, Billy denies requesting the loan from his father. As usual, Chet observes a few clues that everyone else misses.

 Last year Abrahams released a novel outside of the series, “Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge” (Forge Books, 2023). A sequel, “Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue,” is due out next July. And in more bright news, Abrahams is working now on the 16th Chet and Bernie. 

 “It concerns a cat who’s an internet sensation and has now gone missing,” he says.

Abrahams, aka Spencer Quinn, will sign copies of “A Farewell to Arfs” and the paperback release of “It’s a Wonderful Woof” on Saturday, Dec. 14 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Yellow Umbrella Books in Chatham.

 The newest picture book for ages 3 to 7 from the award-winning illustrator and author Bob Staake is “Lost” (Anne Schwartz Books, 2024). Staake, a Chatham resident, is now the author and/or illustrator of over 78 books, many of them for children — although adults enjoy his work, too.

 Whose pet hasn’t lost itself outdoors at some time? It’s a horrible experience.

 In “Lost,” when a young girl cannot find her missing orange cat, she creates a “Lost” sign and hands it out around her neighborhood. She soon meets others who have lost their pets: the mailman’s green bird, an old woman’s blue dog, and a man-in-the-grocery-store’s yellow giraffe. In the end, the aroma of a hot dog lures the bird and the dog to the girl. A boy who loses a balloon inadvertently solves the mystery of the missing cat, and the giraffe rescues it.

 The idea for the book came to Staake at the Chatham Squire while he was chatting with a woman who told him she had lost her cat. 

 “Though she searched and searched for her cat, talked to people and put up ‘lost’ signs all over town, she unfortunately never found her cat. But in the process, it occurred to me that she ‘found’ a community of caring neighbors,” Staake said in an email interview. “Losing a beloved pet is very commonplace for both kids and adults, and I felt it could be turned into a dialogue-less picture book where the images tell the story — one that is relatable to anyone.”

For adults, an interesting aspect of Staake’s books is the dedication. “Lost” is dedicated to “Dr. Gladys West.”

 “When you’ve published as many children’s books as I have, you start to run out of family and friends to which they can be dedicated. Consequently, I have dedicated a book about a beached whale to ‘George Costanza, marine biologist,’ a seek-and-find title to the inventor of the eye exam chart, and another to the guy in the Titanic’s crow’s nest who finally saw the iceberg (though a little too late.) As a wink to adult readers of the book, ‘Lost’ is dedicated to Gladys West — We’d be lost without her work.’”

West is an American mathematician who worked in the creation of GPS tracking systems.

Staake will sign copies of “Lost” on Sunday, Dec. 15 from 1 to 3 p.m. at Yellow Umbrella Books. Also available is a collectible signed, numbered art print depicting a man reading a book under a yellow umbrella.