This Andy Carpenter mystery is one of David Rosenfelt's best. All his great characters are back and ready to solve a mystery that keeps the reader guessing. This time a newspaper reporter is accused of a murder he couldn't have committed (two, in fact) and Andy and the gang have to prove his innocence and figure out the real culprit. It includes corrupt government schemes and organized crime and is filled with dogs (of course) and Rosenfelt's witty humorous dialogue. As a true blue Michigan fan I was especially pleased that Andy wants his son Ricky to play football at the University of Michigan! I love this series and am never disappointed but this addition is one of his best.

Best in Snow is the 24th (!!!) Andy Carpenter legal procedural mystery by David Rosenfelt. Due out 16th Oct 2021 from Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 320 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately; it makes it so easy to find information with the search function.

This is a holiday themed, dog filled, legal procedural murder mystery and very much in the vein of the other books in the series. It's an ensemble cast and it's always a lot of fun to see how much work office manager Edna can avoid, how long it'll take Andy to figure out exactly what's going on, and how many burgers, beers, and fries his friends Vince and Pete can get him to buy at their regular sports bar, Charlie's.

I can't think of many series which continue to be genuinely funny, genuinely warm, not derivative, and so cleverly plotted as the Carpenter mysteries. The author is on my must-read list and I really enjoyed this installment very much. It's exciting and tightly plotted but not too graphic. There is no sexual content (excepting the occasional sweetly goofy double entendre between Andy and his wife, Lorie). The language is mostly clean (PG rated). The characters are very well delineated at this point and it feels like they live and breathe. Although it's the 24th book in the series, it works perfectly well as a standalone and would make a good entry into the series as a whole.

The audiobook has a run time of 6 hours and 51 minutes and is expertly narrated by Grover Gardner who manages to juggle the various local accents and characters of all ages and both sexes without problems. I found myself grinning and laughing along several places with the wonderful narration. The read was definitely enhanced by the narrator. I especially loved his interpretation of Vince and Pete (Andy's best buddies). The sound and production quality are high throughout the recording.

Five stars for both the text and audiobook versions. All around fun read.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur for this free copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a laugh-out-loud funny, feel good book. Not what you were expecting from a lawyer POV murder mystery but several hilarious parts. My favorite was when Vince gets Bobby’s dog and is freaking out about how to take care of a puppy. The emotion in Vince was well written and the reader could truly fell his stress of not knowing what to do.

The description the author gives of preparing for the days in court were things I always wondered about. How does a lawyer know which witness to put in first, etc. answered those thoughts and created more questions that keeps the reader wanting more.

I really loved this book and look forward to promoting it with you through my postings.

I love this author's voice! I want him to sit with me over a drink and tell me his stories as Andy being a lawyer. The way he uses self deprecation, sarcasm, and enjoys being annoying is just fun. I don't think anyone but Laurie could be married to the guy all the characters surrounding him including the Bundle Brigade are perfect in their roles I love Marcus even though he has never said a word read it and all the others in this series
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to preview Best In Snow by David Rosenfelt. I look forward to all of Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter books. They just don't get old.
Not only are they a solid mystery with a surprise ending, humourous, and well written, but they don't get stale. Rosenfelt is able to breathe life into the characters for a fresh look each time.
This is another solid book that takes Andy Carpenter and his crew on a journey to help a friend, Bobby, who is being charged with murder.
The plot is even and straightforward - fast paced - all around solid mystery.
5 stars.
RECOMMEND.

A consistently entertaining mystery series adds another great addition with this book. If are a fan of Andy Carpenter you are sure to enjoy it.

laugh-out-loud, law-enforcement, lawyers, murder, murder-investigation, family-dynamics, local-politics, friendship, framed, fraud, senior-citizens, computer-nerd, dogs, greed, the-mob, courtroom-drama, situational-humor, snark-fest, verbal-humor, fast-pace, reporter, newspapers*****

This series can easily be read out of order or just drop in anywhere and have a good read while laughing your sox off!
Andy Carpenter is a wise-mouthed 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 these convoluted mysteries. There are many other people who help Andy find out what the truth really is and make it courtroom admissible, including a crew of senior citizen hackers who don't work Friday evenings and bake wonderful goodies! The publisher's blurb is a pretty good hook so I won't go there. Cackled my way through the whole thing!
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
I will definitely get the audio when it comes out.

Once again lawyer Andy Carpenter is forced to take a case. A young journalist is accused of murdering the mayor. However, things don't quite add up and it is up to Andy and friends to save the day. Delightful, as always.

This 24th Andy Carpenter mystery begins on Thanksgiving and lasts into the new year. Andy and Edna's new boyfriend are walking the dogs when Tara discovers a body buried in the new snow. Andy is surprised to find that it is the body of Mayor Alex Oliva. He is surprised again when his friend newspaper editor Vince Sanders calls him and asks him to take the case of his young former employee Bobby Nash who has been accused of the murder.

Andy isn't excited about working again since he really enjoys his retirement, but Vince is a friend. Things aren't looking good for Bobby. He was in a car accident just after the murder and doesn't remember anything. But the mayor's wife said Bobby had phoned with threats and the mayor's blood was found in the trunk of Bobby's car.

Andy has lots of questions. Why transport the body three blocks from the murder site to dump it in a park? Who wanted the mayor dead besides Bobby? What is true about the newspaper article that cost Bobby his job and that claimed the mayor was receiving under the counter money from a local business man? The biggest question is why someone would kill the mayor and try to frame Bobby for it.

As the evidence piles up against Bobby including the presence of his cell phone at the mayor's house at the time of the murder, Andy needs to call on all his resources including the Bubelah Brigade - Jewish senior citizens with mad tech skills. After another death related to the case and an attempt on Bobby's life and on Andy's, Andy knows something is going on but it takes quite a while to figure things out.

I really enjoy Andy and his whole crew. I like his quick wit and sarcasm. I like that his wife Laurie gives it back to him as quickly. I like the way Andy views holidays with Thanksgiving being his favorite for the food and the football. I like the way Laurie celebrates Christmas for four months.

I enjoyed the large cast of characters who have appeared in so many of the stories. I even liked the courtroom drama.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

First off let's talk about this cover it is today for second the story can actually back it up. Awesome Christmas tale.

A review from Goodreads:
In this Christmas mystery, lawyer Andy Carpenter and his golden retriever, Tara, are on the beat after a body turns up in the snow and a journalist is the prime suspect.

Christmas has come early to the town of Paterson, New Jersey, in the form of a snowstorm that dumps two feet of snow on the ground. Lawyer Andy Carpenter likes snow – white Christmas and all that – but it can cause problems for the walks he takes his dogs on every day.

When Andy’s golden retriever, Tara, goes to play in the snow and instead discovers a body, Andy ends up on the phone with the local newspaper editor. The murder victim is Mayor Alex Oliva, who had an infamous relationship with the newspaper. Last year a young reporter published an expose, and Oliva had him fired for libel. Now, the young reporter – and prime suspect – is in need of a lawyer.

Andy agrees to take the case, though it’s not looking good this holiday season. The evidence is piling up faster than the snow in Best in Snow, the next Christmas mystery in the bestselling Andy Carpenter series from David Rosenfelt.

Lawyer Andy Carpenter is reluctantly drawn into defending Bobby Nash, a reporter friend of Andy's cantankerous friend Vince. It is near Thanksgiving and as Andy and David, his employee Edna's new fiancée are walking the dogs, Tara, Andy's golden retriever, discovers a hand under the snow. The body is later identified as the Mayor of Paterson and Andy and his friends and employees investigate a cast of shady, powerful people. The author brings in characters from his previous books and there is much humor as usual. I like that Andy admits to fear and does not try to be a superhero. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is one series I like to recommend to readers. This is a fun series and I love Andy. This book didn’t disappoint. It has just the right amount of fun and suspense. Loved it!

Thank you Netgalley for always making David Rosenfelt’s books available prior to publication dates. I thoroughly enjoy his humor, character, writing and fast read stories!

The best current mystery series has to be the Andy Carpenter books by David Rosenfelt. That is if you want a good mystery at the same time laughing out loud because of Andy’s sarcastic and very funny wit.
Andy Carpenter is an independently wealthy lawyer who doesn’t want to be a lawyer. He’d rather just work on his foundation, rescuing and finding homes for dogs. But alas his wife and many friends keep offering his services to clients falsely accused of murder but with no means to pay. Andy is always aided by his somewhat oddball group of characters that always add to the fun. For instance his secretary Edna does no work whatsoever but is still paid although she balks at even typing a letter. She’s now getting married and going to travel, but tells Andy she’s worked so hard and has so much vacation time accrued he can still pay her. Rosenfelt’s characters make the book.
It’s almost Christmas, a months long affair thanks to Andy’s wife, when his dog Tara finds a dead body in the snow who happened to be the major. A young reporter, Nash, is quickly arrested for the crime and it’s up to Andy and his gang to show how he was framed. Another great entry to the series.

This is the 24th book in the Andy Carpenter series. As usual, his books grab me from the start and I hate to get to the end. Wonderful characters and laugh out loud humor. I love his books

This is #24 in the Andy Carpenter crime/legal procedural series that always manages to get us laughing out loud.

As this book begins, Andy is walking his three dogs, when one of them, his golden retriever Tara, finds a body in the snow. The murder victim turns out to be Paterson, New Jersey Mayor Alex Oliva. A young newspaper reporter, Bobby Nash, is arrested immediately, in spite of the fact that he is discovered almost dead in a car crash with his body full of drugs and the car wiped clean of prints. But Oliva’s blood is found in the car, and the mayor’s wife told the police that someone named Bobby Nash had called and threatened her husband the day before.

Everyone knew Bobby had a grudge against the Mayor. Bobby had authored a story accusing him of bribery, but the checks he was shown turned out to be elaborate fakes. Bobby’s career was ruined, and Oliva’s got a boost. Vince Sanders, editor of the local newspaper, and friend of Andy’s, was Bobby’s mentor at the paper. He is convinced Bobby is not guilty and begs Andy to represent him. Andy doesn’t want to take the case, but Vince argues that even if Andy doesn’t owe Vince anything, he *could* some day…. Besides, Vince has taken in Bobby’s puppy while Bobby is hospitalized, and Andy is always a sucker when a dog is involved.

Andy uncovers a convoluted plot of mob-related corruption and quickly becomes certain that Bobby was framed. As he gets closer to the truth, Andy also has his life threatened, and as usual, he is saved by his much braver wife Laurie and Laurie’s muscle, the always amusing, albeit taciturn Marcus. But can he save Bobby? It’s up to the jury, and the outcome is unclear until the very end.

Evaluation: My husband and I love these books, which, by the way, you don’t really need to read in order to enjoy. This one takes place during the Christmas season (four months long in Andy’s house, much to his chagrin), which mainly serves to allow Andy to inject many jokes about the horrors of ubiquitous Christmas music. Andy’s sarcasm and wit are unfailingly entertaining, as are his relationships with the rest of his team, which in this book also includes the “Bubeleh Team” - a group of elderly Jews who like to help hacking computer records. (Bonus: They don't mind working on Christmas!) For a quick, diverting read that challenges you at the same time, you can’t go wrong with David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter series.