Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Nixon Panero’

Mike the Pillow Guy …

… as Nixon Panero (Chet and Bernie’s go-to car repair man). Someone in yesterday’s comment had a moment of genius.

What’s In A Name?

Ms. Publicist: Way past the fifteenth of the month so we’re overdue for What’s In A Name – where Spencer Quinn discusses a character name from the Chet and Bernie series. Spence, what about Nixon Panero, the auto mechanic who keeps those old beat-up Porsches on the road?

Spencer Quinn: And at some point in the past was busted by Chet and Bernie. First, I liked the contrast between prename and surname, two cultures coming uncomfortably together. I liked the sound, too – the blunt Anglo-Saxon Nixon with the melodic Latin-derived Panero.

Ms. P: You could have chosen many blunt Anglo-Saxon names. Why Nixon?

SQ: I believe it’s in A Fistful of Collars where Bernie guesses that Nixon was not exactly a wanted child.

Ms. P: Thanks, Spence! See you next month!

No Post Tomorrow

Special traveling day. But for now, a blog exclusive – the very beginning of book 5 in the Chet and Bernie series:

“Heard you drove another one off a cliff,” said Nixon Panero. He spat a thin brown stream of chewing tobacco into an empty paint can, or maybe not that empty. Yellow paint, the yellow of egg yolks, now with a brown swirl in the middle: there’re all kinds of beauty in life.

“You heard wrong,” said Bernie.

Break in the Action

“See this?” said Suzie. “They just had the World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. Pabst here was the winner.” She held up the newspaper. 

I was just thinking that Pabst looked pretty good to me, kind of like Spike over at Nixon Panero’s Autobody, when Bernie said, “He reminds me of Churchill.” Uh-oh – Churchill again, and obviously still on the loose. Look out, buddy boy. We get them all eventually.

“And how about this?” Suzie went on. “From Eau Claire, Wisconsin. A golden retriever named Sunshine chewed up a kid’s passport and he missed a class trip to Peru.” Passport? I didn’t even know what that was, never mind how it would taste. But I sure was curious.

So, big shout-out to Pabst and Sunshine! Way to go, guys!