Suspense

This eighth book in the Andy Carpenter series has Andy defending a German Shepherd named Milo. Milo was taken away from his owner Billy when Billy was accused of murdering a man named Erskine. Now, for some reason no one will explain, Milo is in a kennel and there is a twenty-four hour guard outside his cage.

Andy and his new fellow lawyer Hike manage to get Milo out of the kennel but no one will explain why he was under guard there. Since Billy is a friend of Andy's friend Pete which convinces Andy to take Billy's case. Billy was a former cop turned soldier who lost his leg in an explosion that killed 20 in Iraq and who has turned to theft to make his living upon his return to the US.

Erskine was in charge of the security for the bombing that injured Billy which looks to give him a good motive for killing him. And there is all sorts of evidence not least of which is that he was found standing over Erskine's body and his prints were on the murder weapon.

As Andy investigates, he comes to believe that Erskine's death was only a small part of a much bigger plot. Other points of view in the story confirm this since we hear from the killer who is taking care of loose ends and the man who is in command of this secretive operation. Andy is even more sure that there is more to discover when he learns that both the FBI and the Army want to interview one of his witnesses.

This was an engaging mystery. I like Andy's sarcastic personality and his unabashed love for dogs. I also like his relationship with Laurie who is still recovering from events in a previous book. Fans of the series will enjoy this episode. ( )

Andy Carpenter books provide such a delightful escape from the world around us! I'm working my way through all of them. How Rosenfelt comes up with such complicated stories always amazes me and this one was just that....so complicated! Great....as usual! Note to author....please...just keep them coming!!!!! ( )

A bit of a crazy premise, though maybe not for this series. Andy Carpenter is a dog lover first and a lawyer second. He's a bit lazy, and somewhat wealthy via an inheritance, so he tries to avoid getting any new clients. But when his buddy on the police force asks him to take a case for a friend, he considers it. When he learns it's for the friend's dog, who is being mysteriously held and guarded by police for helping his owner commit a robbery, he can't refuse as long as he doesn't have to represent the owner, who is charged with a murder he didn't do.

He treats it much like any normal client, and starts with trying to bail him out. Lots of good humor during the story, with exchanges like this on when he first tries to see his client, Milo the dog and they don't want to let him near the dog:

“Okay,” I say, and then look past him so I can talk directly to Milo. “Milo, don’t talk to anybody about anything. Anybody asks you something, refer them to your lawyer. If you need anything, cigarettes, reading material, whatever, just tell the guard.”

This is typical Andy Carpenter wisecracking.

We find out that the dog is being held and guarded due to a request from the federal authorities, but they don't want to say why. Andy manages to secure the dog's release to him on his own recognizance since he's never been arrested before and isn't a member of the dog Costra Nostra or anything like that.

The story actually is pretty good in addition to being pretty hilarious, which to me is the appeal of this series. ( )

international-crime-and-mystery, law-enforcement, lawyers, conspiracy, murder, murder-investigation, friendship, dogs, contract-killer, situational-humor, snark-fest, verbal-humor, ex-cop, ex-military, greed*****

Take a wisemouthed lawyer who can afford to take semi retirement by only representing innocent clients while supporting an animal shelter, add in that his wife is no longer law enforcement but works as his private investigator and more and you have the baseline for this convoluted mystery. There are many other people who help Andy find out what the truth really is and make it courtroom admissible. This one is kind of scary in the *it is uncomfortably possible* sense. No spoilers, and the snarkfest keeps it from being too realistic. Lots of twists and turns in the plot and the characters certainly are, but there's no need for spoilers or an attempt at a summary. I found it to be a real brain grabber and it is one in a series of interesting and well written mysteries. At no time does the reader feel lost or as if missing background info.
Grover Gardner narrates this complicated snarkfest very well! ( )