Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers on February 11, 2025
Genres: Children's
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A hilarious introduction to the mystery genre, starring a boy, his fish, and a whiskered detective in disguise.
A little boy’s aquarium has been attacked, and his poor fish is terrified! Who could be behind this horrible crime? Never fear: Ramon Fellini is on the case! This brave dog has donned his cleverest cat costume in order to track down the culprit. How does Fellini know a cat is to blame? Why does he say strange things like “Does this house have any other fish?” No time for such questions—Fellini is about to reveal the truth! Unless the ace detective has a different agenda in mind…
With dramatic colors, ironic humor, and plenty of clues to discover in the art, this whodunit is a laugh-out-loud read for pet lovers. Children will love using their own sleuthing skills to solve the mystery and predict what Detective Ramon Fellini does next.
A fish has fallen and there’s only one detective that can solve the case—Ramon Fellini the Dog Detective! The fishbowl has fallen down the stairs. The fish is lying, gasping on the floor. He is saved by his humans, but who is the culprit? The dog detective is on the case! But this dog looks a little…cat-like? A mean, a lot cat-like. And maybe the culprit?
The humans are oblivious. Obviously, this dog detective is only in disguise as a cat—better to investigate what is probably a cat culprit. As the story progresses, it becomes clear (to most) that Ramon Fellini is the fish fiend and all his “detecting” is only an attempt to finish the job. It’s murder, mayhem, and a tongue-in-cheek reminder to think critically about what’s going on around you.
I do think the story was perhaps a bit wordy and some of the word choices were a bit above the vocabulary range of the target audience. My seven-year-old read this and I could see him becoming increasingly unsure about Ramon and his intentions. Willing to accept that he’s a dog in a cat costume at the beginning? For sure. That’s the power of imagination and the trustworthiness of accepting stories (and people) at face value. But about halfway through, he’s like “I don’t think this is actually a dog.” And the ending, well…let’s just say that Disney didn’t write it.
Overall, Ramon Fellini the Dog Detective is an okay book. There are points it tries to hard; some points it doesn’t try hard enough. It’s fun for a single read-through but probably not one that my kids will return to over and over again.