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.

What's happening to the collars of Doggeroo? First Shuffle the pug gets mugged. Then the ranger catches him without his collar. So when Red's collar is stolen, Jack knows he has a case on his paws. Will an attack of the jack-pack be enough to nobble the mugger? Can Jack get to the bottom of The Mugged Pug?