Crime Biters 2 – It’s a Doggy Dog World

Tommy Greenwald's It's a Doggy Dog World is a very silly CrimeBiters mystery for 8 year olds about a boy who is absolutely certain his dog is a vampire.

What happens

Jimmy Bishop is eleven. His dog Abby has enormous fangs, sleeps all day, hates garlic and slips out of his bedroom window every single night. So obviously she's a vampire. A crime-fighting one, too.

The trouble is, Quietville is very quiet. The CrimeBiters' weekly meetings on the Boathouse roof are mostly reports about people using phones while driving. Then Abby drags Jimmy right across the farmers' market and leaps on a shopper, and a stolen cucumber falls out of her handbag. Coincidence? Jimmy doesn't think so.

His mum has had enough, though. Abby has chewed up three pairs of her shoes this month alone. So Abby is sent to obedience training, and to everyone's surprise, she starts behaving. Really well. She won't even go out of the window at night any more. Is that good news or bad news for the CrimeBiters?

Meanwhile Jimmy has blurted out that he's joining the lacrosse team, mostly to impress Daisy, and somehow he's ended up in goal. (Nobody is more shocked than Jimmy when he actually makes a save.)

Jimmy tells the whole thing himself, and he's great company. He's a bit of a worrier, a big fan of an old TV cop show, and completely hopeless at pretending he isn't jealous. The book is broken up with little FACT lines and profile cards for each new character (the coach's only listed interest is his whistle), so it's quick and easy to dip into.

There's a sweet friendship story in here too. Jimmy and his best friend Irwin both have a crush on Daisy, who says it's best if they're all just friends. The saddest fact of all, Jimmy admits, is that she's right. There's nothing more than that, and it's played entirely for laughs.

It's the kind of book where the jokes come every few lines, the grown-ups are all slightly ridiculous, and the dog steals every scene she's in. If you've got a reader who loves animals and silly detective stories, this is a lot of fun.

What to read next

It follows on from the first CrimeBiters case, but Jimmy fills you in as he goes. If they haven't met Abby yet, My Dog is Better than Your Dog goes back to the summer Jimmy gets her, starting with a blotch on his face two days before fifth grade.