Legal

Poor Andy Carpenter. He keeps trying to retire from being an attorney, but life just won’t let him. Here it is Christmas, and again Andy has to step up to help someone accused of murder. Of course, the accused always has a dog related connection… David Rosenfelt’s books are fun and entertaining — “Twas the Bite Before Christmas,” Rosenfelt’s 28th Andy Carpenter novel, is no exception. Come on! Who doesn’t love a mystery that makes you laugh out loud from time to time.

This time Bobby, who foster’s dogs for Andy’s dog charity, is in the witness protection program when a gang member is murdered — a member of the gang who Bobby used to belong to and testified against years ago.
As usual it isn’t really the thrill of solving the mystery or the procedure of how to solve the crime that captives the reader. Rather it is the fun you have just along for the ride as Andy, his wife Laurie-the PI, the amazing computer hack-Sam, and Marcus-the scariest person alive, find the real killer. And of course, the dogs! Always, the dogs who punctuate the story with humor and good feelings. After all, it is Christmas! My rating 4 of 5.

This ARC title was provided by Netgalley.com at no cost, and I am providing an unbiased review. ‘Twas the Bite Before Christmas was published on October 10, 2023.

If you haven’t read the Andy Carpenter series, you have a lot of catching up to do. Rosenfelt began with his dog-loving attorney mysteries in 2002’s Open and Shut. The truth is I don’t really READ the Andy Carpenter mysteries — I enjoy them on audio, read by Grover Gardner who does an excellent job and his reading is the main reason I enjoy these books so much.

Normally, I don’t favor cute, dog-filled mysteries as they are too “cozy” for my tastes. But these mysteries are only somewhat cozy — there is no small group of suspects, the courtroom and investigation is mostly realistic, and the sleuths are professionals. But indeed there are dogs in every story line, no violence on the page and these are an “easy” read without gore but lots of laughs.

Flop Dead Gorgeous is as good as the twenty-six Andy Carpenter mysteries before it. In this outing, a famous actress who Andy once dated is accused of murdering her actor boyfriend in her kitchen. Andy has been trying to retire for about twelve books, but circumstances keep pulling him back in. All the familiar characters are there — Andy’s wife and son, big bruiser Marcus, the elderly computer nerds, and of course, all the dogs, though in Flop Dead they pay a smaller part then usual. Grover Gardner does a wonderful read of the novel per usual. Sometimes you just want a familiar cast playing out pretty much the same story.

Did I mention there are dogs?!

My score 4 of 5.

This ARC title was provided by Netgalley.com at no cost, and I am providing an unbiased review. Flop Dead Gorgeous was published on July 4, 2023.