Like Hank the Cow Dog, Jack Russell makes great bad jokes en route to solving crimes. Fortunately, Jack offers a glossary to help readers through his more elusive usages (often pawful puns). For example, a “jack-attack” is a full throttle bite on trouser legs: “Very loud. Quite harmless” (6). In his third adventure, Jack is determined to discover the perpetrator of a rash of dog collar thefts. Aided by the flea-prone Foxy the Terrier and the not-so bright Lord Red the Setter (with support from their human “landlords”), Jack makes short work of crime in a jocular series for transitioning chapter-book readers. The series, which now numbers 11—or more—is titled Jack Russell: Dog Detective. nlr

Originally published by Scholastic Australia, in 2005.