Bondi, 1947. While Dot Campbell is called away, her Australian Terrier Blue is handed off a day at a time to every corner of the town: the vet surgery, the library, the surf club, the ballet school, the Pavilion, the Royal Easter Show, the Campbell Parade tram. Each short is one day, told from Blue's side of the lead, in the smells humans miss, the small wrongs nobody has clocked, and the patient work of making an oblivious person look.
These are heartwarming animal stories, not murder mysteries. No corpse, no villainy a good dog can't set right by teatime, for readers of Spencer Quinn and W. Bruce Cameron. If you know the Bondi books, each novelette calls in on a familiar series; if you don't, Blue makes a fine introduction. The whole run is free for newsletter subscribers.
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Book 1
Blue At The Wagging Tail
A wrong smell three days deep on another dog's coat says a nearby house is in trouble. Blue is the only one who knows, and one boarding day to make a busy human look.
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Book 2
Blue And The Librarian
Someone is quietly slipping volumes off the shelves the library meant to keep for everyone. One misfiled book carries the culprit's scent, and only a small dog has read it right.
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Book 3
Blue At The Surf Club
Out past the break, a swimmer is in the rip and nobody on the sand has clocked it. Blue smells the panic first, and only one lifesaver reads him right.
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Book 4
Blue And The Ballet School
The ballet studio above the chip shop smells of a stranger who comes at night and moves things in the dark. Siobhan cannot see it. Blue knew the moment he walked in.
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Book 5
Blue At The Pavilion
Four women, a brown pot of tea, and a book club being leaned on from outside. Blue can smell which of them is about to make a mistake.
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Book 6
Blue And The Codebreaker
A watcher's tobacco hangs stale on Dru Mercer's back fence. The cleverest woman in Bondi is bent over her puzzles, missing the one code her borrowed dog has already cracked.
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Book 7
Blue And The Christmas Hamper
A Christmas hamper labelled for the wrong family, swapped in good faith, and the committee thinks the job is done. One dog underfoot knows better, with an afternoon to put it right.
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Book 8
Blue At The Easter Show
The best day of a dog's life: sawdust, showbags, and somewhere a small rubber ball. Then a lost child's fear cuts through the crowd, and Blue knows exactly what that needs.
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Book 9
Blue And The Tram
All Blue wants is the front jump seat on the Campbell Parade tram. Then a man boards with a case that smells of anxious sweat and things not honestly come by.
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Book 10
Blue Nudges A Romance
Birdie Quinn sits on her bench facing the wrong way, about to miss the shy man walking straight toward her. Neither will say the first word. A dog with a lead has other ideas.
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Book 11
Blue Saves The Carnival
One collection tin holds the carnival's whole takings, and a man in the crowd has a second tin ready under his jacket. Guarding the day falls to the smallest volunteer on the ground.
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Book 12
Blue Comes Home
After a year of being minded all over town, Blue finally gets his wish: Dot comes home. She carries a worry in with her, and tonight what she needs most is her dog at her foot.
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