Spencer Quinn
Author of Dog on It
About the Author
Peter Abrahams was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 28, 1947. His works include Lights Out, The Fan, Crying Wolf, and Oblivion. He also writes the Echo Falls Mysteries Series for younger readers. He was the winner of the 2010 Edgar Award, Best Young Adult Mystery for Reality Check. In show more addition, he writes the Chet and Bernie Mystery Series under the pseudonym Spencer Quinn. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
A pseudonym of Peter Abrahams Please don't combine since there are multiple Peter Abrahams.
Image credit: http://www.jungleredwriters.com/2009/04/catch-lie.html
Series
Works by Spencer Quinn
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Abrahams, Peter
- Birthdate
- 1947-06-28
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Williams College (AB|1968)
- Agent
- Molly Friedrich
- Short biography
- AKA: Peter Abrahams (born June 28, 1947) is an American writer of crime fiction for both adults and children. His works include Oblivion, The Tutor, The Fury of Rachel Monette, Hard Rain, The Fan, Crying Wolf, The Right Side (written under his pen name, Spencer Quinn), the Echo Falls Mysteries for children, and Lights Out, the last of which was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel. Reality Check won the best young adult Edgar Award in 2011. Down the Rabbit Hole, first in the Echo Falls series, won the best children's/young adult Agatha Award in 2005. The Fan was adapted into a film starring Robert De Niro and directed by Tony Scott (1996).
His literary influences are Vladimir Nabokov, Graham Greene, and Ross Macdonald. Stephen King has referred to him as "my favorite American suspense novelist".
Born in Boston, Abrahams lives in Falmouth, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. He is married and has four children including Rosie Gray. He graduated from Williams College in 1968.
Spencer Quinn lives on Cape Cod with his dog, Audrey. He is currently working on the next Chet and Bernie novel. - Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
- Disambiguation notice
- A pseudonym of Peter Abrahams Please don't combine since there are multiple Peter Abrahams.
- Associated Place (for map)
- Massachusetts, USA
Members
Discussions
Chet & Bernie Mysteries ~ Dog On It ~ Spencer Quinn in Quote Keepers (July 2025)
Found: Mystery Florida Widow Scammed in Name that Book (February 2025)
Reviews
IN A NUTSHELL
'Mrs Plansky’s Revenge’ was a wonderful read. It was one of those rare books that I really did find uplifting. The plot requires some suspension of disbelief (or at least of the jaded, cynical way I normally view the world), but I completely believed in Mrs Plansky. She was a wonderful creation: determined, clever, self-deprecating and… nice. Not so nice that she’ll let you get away with cheating her, but nice enough to recognise that the people cheating her might not be show more all bad.
'Mrs Plansky's Revenge' is an escapist fantasy about a recently widowed old woman who falls for a telephone scam, thinking that she's helping her grandson, loses all her money and then goes to Romania, determined to get it back.
That's a premise so unlikely that, especially when the book is tagged as 'uplifting', I'd normally pass it over as so sweet it would make my teeth ache.
I tried this one out firstly because I'd enjoyed Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie novels, secondly because reviewers I trust liked it, and thirdly because I'm always in the market for a good novel about old people.
This novel works because, although it has a good thriller-with-a-comic-twist plot, based on true-to-life scams, the book is actually character-driven. It's Mrs Plansky who is the star attraction, and Mrs Plansky felt real to me. Yes, the plot involved significant suspension of disbelief at times, but it never required Mrs Plansky to be anyone but herself. And I was cheering for her at every challenge she faced.
I think the cleverest thing about the book is that Spencer Quinn introduces Mrs Plansky when her life is in transition. She's grieving for the loss of her husband of many decades. A man who was her best friend. A man she had raised a family and built a business with. A man without whom she feels incomplete. The business has been sold. The children have moved away. Mrs Plansky is living in Florida, a place she'd retired to with her husband. but which is harder to enjoy without him. Getting scammed makes her feel foolish and vulnerable and then very, very angry. Her quest to get her money back, the money she and her husband worked together to make, becomes her journey towards understanding the kind of person she is and the life she now wants to lead.
Better still, all of that is delivered with humour, sharp observations on the indignities of growing old and exciting plot twists that kept me turning the pages.
I also liked that this wasn't a story of American triumphalism with a tough old lady going and teaching those nasty, criminal foreigners a lesson. Part of the charm of the book is that not all of those criminals are nasty and not all of thoseforeigners are criminals. It's Mrs Plansky's ability to see these people clearly which enables her to succeed.
I think Spence Quinn has hit gold with this. I've already bought the next book, ‘Mrs Plansky Goes Rogue’ (2025).
I recommend the audiobook version of 'Mrs Plansky's Revenge'. I thought Petrea Burchard's pacing and tone brought out the best in the book. Click on the YouTube link below to hear a sample.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzqs05fuvZo show less
'Mrs Plansky’s Revenge’ was a wonderful read. It was one of those rare books that I really did find uplifting. The plot requires some suspension of disbelief (or at least of the jaded, cynical way I normally view the world), but I completely believed in Mrs Plansky. She was a wonderful creation: determined, clever, self-deprecating and… nice. Not so nice that she’ll let you get away with cheating her, but nice enough to recognise that the people cheating her might not be show more all bad.
'Mrs Plansky's Revenge' is an escapist fantasy about a recently widowed old woman who falls for a telephone scam, thinking that she's helping her grandson, loses all her money and then goes to Romania, determined to get it back.
That's a premise so unlikely that, especially when the book is tagged as 'uplifting', I'd normally pass it over as so sweet it would make my teeth ache.
I tried this one out firstly because I'd enjoyed Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie novels, secondly because reviewers I trust liked it, and thirdly because I'm always in the market for a good novel about old people.
This novel works because, although it has a good thriller-with-a-comic-twist plot, based on true-to-life scams, the book is actually character-driven. It's Mrs Plansky who is the star attraction, and Mrs Plansky felt real to me. Yes, the plot involved significant suspension of disbelief at times, but it never required Mrs Plansky to be anyone but herself. And I was cheering for her at every challenge she faced.
I think the cleverest thing about the book is that Spencer Quinn introduces Mrs Plansky when her life is in transition. She's grieving for the loss of her husband of many decades. A man who was her best friend. A man she had raised a family and built a business with. A man without whom she feels incomplete. The business has been sold. The children have moved away. Mrs Plansky is living in Florida, a place she'd retired to with her husband. but which is harder to enjoy without him. Getting scammed makes her feel foolish and vulnerable and then very, very angry. Her quest to get her money back, the money she and her husband worked together to make, becomes her journey towards understanding the kind of person she is and the life she now wants to lead.
Better still, all of that is delivered with humour, sharp observations on the indignities of growing old and exciting plot twists that kept me turning the pages.
I also liked that this wasn't a story of American triumphalism with a tough old lady going and teaching those nasty, criminal foreigners a lesson. Part of the charm of the book is that not all of those criminals are nasty and not all of thoseforeigners are criminals. It's Mrs Plansky's ability to see these people clearly which enables her to succeed.
I think Spence Quinn has hit gold with this. I've already bought the next book, ‘Mrs Plansky Goes Rogue’ (2025).
I recommend the audiobook version of 'Mrs Plansky's Revenge'. I thought Petrea Burchard's pacing and tone brought out the best in the book. Click on the YouTube link below to hear a sample.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzqs05fuvZo show less
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital advance reader copy. All comments and opinions are my own unless otherwise noted.
I love this series, and this book lived up to all that I enjoy in a Chet and Bernie mystery. Chet is the charming canine narrator of each mystery. He’s also the four-legged team member of the Little Detective Agency, along with human partner and private investigator Bernie Little. What makes this series endearing is their relationship, as well as the show more fact that Chet takes everything literally and misunderstands the many idioms we humans take for granted. While he can only really count to two and has a weakness for anything edible, his sense of smell, his strength and loyalty, as well as his ability to leap are what Bernie depends on to help them overcome the bad guys and solve the crimes in each novel.
The plot of this mystery starts out simply with a social media parody – a famous and valuable cat known on the internet as “Miss Kitty” is missing. Hired to find her by Miss Kitty’s teenage owner, Bernie and Chet soon discover it’s a more serious issue when two people turn up dead. Danger, clues, guns, and even a pig named Senor Piggy make this an edge-of-your-seat read.
What makes this series outstanding is the humor of Chet's narration and his naive interpretation of humans - both their language and behavior. And the series is not cutesy or cloying.
If you're looking for a well-thought-out mystery, great characters, and a humorous page-turner, this is the book for you. Once you finish this, I guarantee you'll want to go back and find one of the earlier books - they're all endearing and entertaining! show less
I love this series, and this book lived up to all that I enjoy in a Chet and Bernie mystery. Chet is the charming canine narrator of each mystery. He’s also the four-legged team member of the Little Detective Agency, along with human partner and private investigator Bernie Little. What makes this series endearing is their relationship, as well as the show more fact that Chet takes everything literally and misunderstands the many idioms we humans take for granted. While he can only really count to two and has a weakness for anything edible, his sense of smell, his strength and loyalty, as well as his ability to leap are what Bernie depends on to help them overcome the bad guys and solve the crimes in each novel.
The plot of this mystery starts out simply with a social media parody – a famous and valuable cat known on the internet as “Miss Kitty” is missing. Hired to find her by Miss Kitty’s teenage owner, Bernie and Chet soon discover it’s a more serious issue when two people turn up dead. Danger, clues, guns, and even a pig named Senor Piggy make this an edge-of-your-seat read.
What makes this series outstanding is the humor of Chet's narration and his naive interpretation of humans - both their language and behavior. And the series is not cutesy or cloying.
If you're looking for a well-thought-out mystery, great characters, and a humorous page-turner, this is the book for you. Once you finish this, I guarantee you'll want to go back and find one of the earlier books - they're all endearing and entertaining! show less
Seventy-one-year-old Loretta Plansky is a widow who misses her late husband, Norm, every day. After Norm's death, Loretta buys a condo in Florida, where she resides with Chandler—her cantankerous ninety-eight-year-old father—along with his home health aide, Lucrecia, and Chandler's lady friend. Although Loretta wishes that her argumentative dad would stay in an assisted living facility, he prefers getting on his daughter's nerves on a daily basis.
Loretta, who is a good athlete, and her show more tennis partner, Kevin Dinardo, come from behind to emerge victorious in a competitive doubles match. Loretta drives Kevin home, and is shocked when, shortly after they arrive, she sees Kevin's boat explode. Subsequently, Kevin disappears, and adding to Loretta's concern, her son, Jack, is also missing. The first few chapters of Spencer Quinn's "Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue" are rambling and slow-moving. Fortunately, the story picks up steam when Loretta endangers her life to get to the bottom of a possible crime. Throughout it all, we are entertained by Loretta's hilarious musings.
In this farcical novel, we meet treacherous villains, an intrepid female reporter and pilot, a good-hearted fisherman, and a detective who refuses to take Mrs. Plansky seriously. The plot is preposterous; Loretta's determination to conduct her own investigation, sheer madness; and the heroine's ability to emerge unscathed from perilous situations, nothing short of miraculous. What makes this book so much fun is Loretta's self-deprecating manner coupled with her chutzpah and courage; passages of humorous dialogue that are filled with non-sequiturs; and a hectic conclusion that vindicates Mrs. Plansky's suspicion that Kevin and Jack were involved in something sinister. Aficionados of unconventional tales in which the main character is too old to be gallivanting around like Nancy Drew will likely enjoy "Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue." show less
Loretta, who is a good athlete, and her show more tennis partner, Kevin Dinardo, come from behind to emerge victorious in a competitive doubles match. Loretta drives Kevin home, and is shocked when, shortly after they arrive, she sees Kevin's boat explode. Subsequently, Kevin disappears, and adding to Loretta's concern, her son, Jack, is also missing. The first few chapters of Spencer Quinn's "Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue" are rambling and slow-moving. Fortunately, the story picks up steam when Loretta endangers her life to get to the bottom of a possible crime. Throughout it all, we are entertained by Loretta's hilarious musings.
In this farcical novel, we meet treacherous villains, an intrepid female reporter and pilot, a good-hearted fisherman, and a detective who refuses to take Mrs. Plansky seriously. The plot is preposterous; Loretta's determination to conduct her own investigation, sheer madness; and the heroine's ability to emerge unscathed from perilous situations, nothing short of miraculous. What makes this book so much fun is Loretta's self-deprecating manner coupled with her chutzpah and courage; passages of humorous dialogue that are filled with non-sequiturs; and a hectic conclusion that vindicates Mrs. Plansky's suspicion that Kevin and Jack were involved in something sinister. Aficionados of unconventional tales in which the main character is too old to be gallivanting around like Nancy Drew will likely enjoy "Mrs. Plansky Goes Rogue." show less
How could I not read this? Just look at that cover…..a woman & a dog. It’s not exactly love at first sight but they just might end up saving each other.
When we meet Sgt. LeAnne Hogan, a few things are immediately clear. She has PTSD following a horrific attack in Afghanistan that also cost her an eye. Her brain is seriously scrambled. And she’s really, really angry. Thank God for Marci, her one-legged hospital roommate.
LeAnne’s memory of the attack is as fragmented as the right side show more of her face. But when an army investigator shows up with a briefcase of questions, she begins to wonder if she screwed up. Any interest she had in cooperating goes out the window when Marci suddenly dies. The hospital becomes an unbearable place & LeAnne is soon on the first bus out of town.
She has no idea where she’s going but it feels good to be on the move. Her prickly personality & damaged face keep people at bay as she struggles to adapt to her new reality. Just keeping track of her slippery thoughts can be exhausting. It’s the memory of Marci that eventually gives her direction & LeAnne heads to Bellville, Washington to visit Coreen & Mia, Marci’s mother & daughter.
Once there, she discovers not only has she missed Marci’s funeral but Mia is missing. And while some people are welcoming there are others who’d prefer she move on. LeAnne rents a small cabin & soon acquires a new friend who is large, black, pushy & opinionated. And she has sharp teeth to back up the major ‘tude. But she also senses her new human’s frailty & as LeAnne begins to search for Mia, her furry partner becomes a constant presence on her right side.
It’s the beginning of a mystical relationship that gives LeAnne strength as she digs for clues in the present & faces up to her past.
Mia’s story line doesn’t appear until the second half of the book & despite the blurb description, it’s really a vehicle for the development of the MC. This is LeAnne’s story. Through her character, we experience all the fear, confusion, anger & hopelessness that shadows someone struggling with PTSD. She begins as a lost soul who can’t even trust herself let alone others. When she finally attempts a relationship, it’s with another outcast & I loved that the author chose to make that character a dog. Anyone who’s had a furry child knows there’s something about their silent acceptance & unconditional affection that makes the worst day a little easier to get through.
In LeAnne’s case, she finds a companion whose circumstances mirror her own…..another scruffy looking stray trying to figure out where she belongs. Like most friends, they have their disagreements. But when the chips are down, they also have each others’ back.
By the end most of the past & present has been resolved. Instead of a cheesy miraculous transformation, LeAnne is changed in subtle ways which is much more realistic. She’s an interesting, compelling character & if she & the ferocious furball decide to hit the road again, I’d happily go along for the ride. show less
When we meet Sgt. LeAnne Hogan, a few things are immediately clear. She has PTSD following a horrific attack in Afghanistan that also cost her an eye. Her brain is seriously scrambled. And she’s really, really angry. Thank God for Marci, her one-legged hospital roommate.
LeAnne’s memory of the attack is as fragmented as the right side show more of her face. But when an army investigator shows up with a briefcase of questions, she begins to wonder if she screwed up. Any interest she had in cooperating goes out the window when Marci suddenly dies. The hospital becomes an unbearable place & LeAnne is soon on the first bus out of town.
She has no idea where she’s going but it feels good to be on the move. Her prickly personality & damaged face keep people at bay as she struggles to adapt to her new reality. Just keeping track of her slippery thoughts can be exhausting. It’s the memory of Marci that eventually gives her direction & LeAnne heads to Bellville, Washington to visit Coreen & Mia, Marci’s mother & daughter.
Once there, she discovers not only has she missed Marci’s funeral but Mia is missing. And while some people are welcoming there are others who’d prefer she move on. LeAnne rents a small cabin & soon acquires a new friend who is large, black, pushy & opinionated. And she has sharp teeth to back up the major ‘tude. But she also senses her new human’s frailty & as LeAnne begins to search for Mia, her furry partner becomes a constant presence on her right side.
It’s the beginning of a mystical relationship that gives LeAnne strength as she digs for clues in the present & faces up to her past.
Mia’s story line doesn’t appear until the second half of the book & despite the blurb description, it’s really a vehicle for the development of the MC. This is LeAnne’s story. Through her character, we experience all the fear, confusion, anger & hopelessness that shadows someone struggling with PTSD. She begins as a lost soul who can’t even trust herself let alone others. When she finally attempts a relationship, it’s with another outcast & I loved that the author chose to make that character a dog. Anyone who’s had a furry child knows there’s something about their silent acceptance & unconditional affection that makes the worst day a little easier to get through.
In LeAnne’s case, she finds a companion whose circumstances mirror her own…..another scruffy looking stray trying to figure out where she belongs. Like most friends, they have their disagreements. But when the chips are down, they also have each others’ back.
By the end most of the past & present has been resolved. Instead of a cheesy miraculous transformation, LeAnne is changed in subtle ways which is much more realistic. She’s an interesting, compelling character & if she & the ferocious furball decide to hit the road again, I’d happily go along for the ride. show less
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