A surprisingly constructed doggie drama. Sammy is at first the naive narrator, as she doesn't realise quite what is happening – and what that is is her training to be a sniffing dog at Heathrow Airport. In a way then we get a training montage, and then a work montage – and finally a strong bit of plot, as a case of extra hot chilli powder both ruins Sammy's sense of smell, perhaps for ever, and then causes an international incident. Sammy is off the programme – and thus we have a new-friends montage, as she gets farmed off to a Cotswolds village and the cafe-running family there. And we're not done before a montage-of-investigative cases for Sammy and the girl at the cafe. After the final bit of oomph we see the whole thing was a set-up for a future series, destined to feature warm-hearted friendships (Sammy has a best dog friend as well as a best human one; his old handler obviously has a crush on another character…) and the cosiest of cosy crime.

For yes, this has had to prove to be as grit-free as possible. Nobody is allowed to have drugs on them at Heathrow, it has to be much more innocent contraband; anything happening about the village that even nudges towards proper nastiness has to be glossed over quickly. And I don't really mind that this was definitely on the twee side, as this might appeal as appropriate for young thriller readers. What I minded most was the lack of coherent narrative – even with the callbacks during the finale to the relevant details earlier in the book the whole is a jumble of episodic portions followed by another jumble of episodic portions. Had it been strung together better it might have strung me along to want a sequel, but as it was it really failed to inspire me with such a proposal. Two and a half stars.

This is a fun book about a sniffer dog called Sammy. I really enjoyed the story and it made me laugh at lots of different parts. I know the children at school will enjoy this one.

In three words: humorous sniffer dogs

This book was a brilliant read and right up both my street and my son's. Told from the point-of-view of Sammy, himself, it's pacy, funny and totally entertaining...

Sammy the Setterpoo loves her life with her owner. So when she begins her training as a sniffer dog, Sammy struggles with the unfriendliness of the other dogs and the change in lifestyle. That is until she realises that she has such a brilliant nose, she can sniff out anything.

But when Sammy accidentally takes a whiff of some extra-hot chilli powder, she loses her sense of smell. Sent to live with Beanie while she recovers, Sammy wonders if she'll ever smell anything again. And when she gets wind that someone is planning on stealing a diamond, can she find a way to stop them?

Sammy is an instantly brilliant character with a hugely engaging voice. Although we love a story about an underdog - which is many ways Sammy is - we loved how she became top of her game at sniffing. Who would expect that of a setterpoo?

Even when the trouble started and things started to go wrong, we were rooting for Sammy all the way through. Charlie P. Brooks has done an incredible job of capturing the bouncy, upbeat nature of a dog, which is reflected perfectly in the illustrations by Steve May. The plot is twisty and fun, the other characters - both four and two-legged - are great. There just wasn't anything not to like. Do I wish I'd thought of writing this story with this character? Absolutely 100% - Sammy is a winner.

I got this to see if it would work with my classroom (and my name is Sammy). It was a quick read and I was laughing out loud a lot. I know my classroom is going to love this one as they love a dog story!

I love this book because it is a story about a dog for children but unlike the billions of books on dogs for children out in the market, it is about a sniffer dog. The build-up is a bit long but it is told with humour, so in spite of its length, the build-up is fun to read too. But for a book of such a short length, it might be better to get the build-up a tad shorter.

I love the illustration too.