I've enjoyed every book I've read in both the K-Team series and the Andy Carpenter series. The mysteries are twisty and the characters are snarky and fun.

In this story, Corey and the K-Team - team are working a cold case for the Police Department, looking into two possibly connected homicides. The mystery was a doozie. The team had little to go on and nothing made sense.

Another fun instalment in a great series. My only complaint is that I'd love to see more of Simon.

Oooo, on sale!!! I read it, it's fun and who doesn't love a good mystery with dogs, especially when that dog is a retired K-9 cop named Simon Garfunkel and, being a working dog, just can't stay away from danger. The K-Team series just gets better and better. Don't miss out on this one!

I really enjoy David's books. This is part of a new series, the K team. Lots of twist and turns, but not as much action with the dog, Simon as I had hoped. As always, good character development. and interesting plot line. Looking forward to more books in this series.

Good Dog, Bad Cop by David Rosenfelt (K-Team #4) 4 stars

While investigating a cold case of their choosing, the K-Team (Laurie, Corey, Marcus and Simon Garfunkel [K-9 retired] stumble across new clues that leads to a potential domestic terrorist threat. Will the K-Team connect all the dots to prevent a catastrophe? I found this to be an entertaining entry in this Andy Carpenter spin-off series. Some of the plot seem a little fantastical, but the witty dialogue and cameo appearances by Andy Carpenter made up for any perceived shortcoming. The pace was a little slow in the beginning but it went faster towards the end. I look forward to the next Andy Carpenter Book – Flop Dead Gorgeous coming out this year.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for this ARC.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for accepting my request to read and review Good Dog, Bad Cop..

Published: 03/14/23

Writing with several chuckles and a few laughs out loud, Rosenfelt's fourth book in his K-Team Series is okay. The laughs are good. The characters have personalities I can relate to. However, I found the story dry.

Andy makes an appearance or two, and pays for meals.

I would read other books in this series in a there is nothing else situation. Should my hands be full, and it's the K-Team book or my coffee, I would offer it up and not look back. Surprisingly, in the same situation, I would write down the page number and name of the Andy Carpenter book I was regretfully leaving behind. And, in the first responsible minute available, I would put myself on my library wait list (all five) and Libby to finish.

The AC Series fills a void that I had upon completing Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series. The K-Team sadly is minor league to AC's major league status.

If you enjoy the genre, like real comedic lines (not cheesy) and light-hearted (not dark) whodunit, give these a try.

Confession time......David Rosenfelt is one of my favorite authors whether you're reading Andy Carpenter, K Team or one of his stand alones, his book are what every reader is looking for in a GOOD, no GREAT, book. My friends and family have received many, many David Rosenfelt books as gifts. They appreciate fine reading when they receive it. This is the 4th title in the K Team series, an off shoot of the Andy Carpenter series. The characters move between the two series with no loss of entertainment value. If you love Stephanie Plum or Kinsey Milhone, just wait until you meet Andy Carpenter!

Corey Douglas and the K Team work closely together to solve crimes no one else has been able to. Their unique bond leads to some very unique investiagtion techniques, but they get the job done.

The only problem with these books is that now I have to wait for the next one!

Although this is the fourth book in the K-Team private detective series, it was the first I've read by David Rosenfelt. I enjoyed his wry sense of humor, and the pacing was excellent. Other reviews I've read warn against reading it as a stand-alone, but I felt like I got up to speed on the characters and their relationships quickly enough to follow the story.
The first-person protagonist is Corey Douglas, a retired cop-turned-P.I. His K-9 partner is Simon, a retired police dog. He also works with other retired cops, Laurie and Marcus; each plays a pivotal role in solving the case, and they all communicate well. Laurie is married to Andy, an attorney. Although Andy plays a minor role in this book, I later learned that he's the star of another series by Rosenfelt. Another key partner is Sam, hacker extraordinaire.
The K-9 team has a great relationship with the Paterson, New Jersey, police department, and they help handle their cold cases. In this story, they are assigned to the murder of police officer Danny Avery. Corey has a hunch it's connected to the subsequent killings of his mentor, Jimmy Dietrich, and Avery's wife, Susan. Although that case has been closed as a murder/suicide, Corey refuses to believe Jimmy took his own life, or that he killed Susan.
Methodically, the team begins tracing the steps of the victims, uncovering more information and persons of interest than were found in the police files. Gradually, they connect the dots and discover a world where almost no one is who they say they are.
This story kept me guessing and entertained until the end. Recommended.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC.

This was my first David Rosenfelt novel. I enjoyed the pacing and story, but was occasionally lost sorting out characters with similar names as I wasn’t familiar with previous works. I wasn’t hindered by not reading the previous 3 books, but feel it would have given me a better base for this one. Overall the book was fast paced and enjoyable. The dialogue was entertaining and kept the book funny and not as dark as it could have been. I enjoyed it.

I love David Rosenfelt‘s K Team series - a spin off of the Andy Carpenter series, the books are highly entertaining, well plotted and well written police procedurals centering on retired detectives that get hired as consultants to solve cold cases !
In this book the cold case is the unsolved death (whether it is a homicide was unclear at the beginning) of Corey‘s former mentor - there is tension and there is comic relief, there is Simon a fantastic police dog and there are the humans and their sarcastic asides …
This was so very fun !! Loved it - and I want to read the next installment now !

This fourth installment of the K-Team series finds our private investigators continuing their work looking into cold cases for the Paterson Police Department. Former police officer Corey Douglas – whose retired K9 unit dog Simon Garfunkel gives the squad its name – has his eye on one case in particular. The human members of his team all agree that the next case they should take on is the unsolved murder of police officer Danny Avery, whose widow Susan and retired mentor Jimmy Dietrich were also shot to death a short time later.

Homicide Captain Pete Stanton is less than thrilled to give them the go-ahead on the latter two victims, as the prevailing opinion is that Jimmy killed Susan then committed suicide, a definite blow to the morale if not reputation of the local police department. Though he finally lets the team take on the cases, he warns that they may not like what they find.

Corey is certain that Jimmy, who acted as mentor to himself as well as to many of the station’s other cops, was framed. He’s also certain that whoever killed Susan and framed Jimmy for it was merely continuing to cover up the trail leading to the identity of Danny’s killer.

Shortly before Danny’s death, a shadow had fallen over his career prospects. In responding to a domestic violence call, he had fatally shot the perpetrator, Frank Gilmore. Though there was no disputing that Frank had been brandishing a gun, there had been a lot of outrage in the wake of his death due to his status as a local philanthropist and upstanding member of the community. It was no secret that Danny had been obsessed with exploding this reputation and in the process getting his career back on track.

Question is, was the Gilmore case the reason Danny was shot? Or is a greater conspiracy afoot, one that won’t hesitate to snuff out anyone or any dog sniffing into their business?

The K-Team is, of course, more than ready to meet any challenge. Besides Corey and Simon, two other David Rosenfelt stalwarts comprise the rest of the team: the strong and usually silent Marcus Clark (who actually gets lines in these pages!) and the charismatic and competent Laurie Collins, who’s married to the very reason the K-Team first got together, the hilariously lazy but undeniably brilliant defense attorney Andy Carpenter. Corey is still struggling to form a more positive opinion of Andy, as:

QUOTE
Years ago he attacked me in a cross-examination when I was a cop testifying for the prosecution. He made me look foolish, and I’ve never lost my bitterness about that.

On the other hand, he has since represented me when I was wrongly accused of murder and brilliantly managed to keep me from going to jail for the rest of my life. And he did the entire thing, including a lengthy trial, for free.

Maybe I should get over my bitterness.
END QUOTE

Filled with both Mr Rosenfelt’s trademark humor and a devastatingly diabolical criminal conspiracy, Good Dog, Bad Cop finds this spin-off series from the main Andy Carpenter books really coming into its own. An especial highlight for me is the way Corey’s narrative voice is becoming even more distinct from those of the leads of Mr Rosenfelt’s other books. Corey is not as smart as Andy or even Doug Brock, the amnesiac hero of the most thriller-like of this author’s series, but he’s slowly working on becoming a better person – never a thing you could say about Andy! In fairness, Andy is already pretty great as is, even if he’s constantly playing down his own abilities.

Aside from investigation, one of Corey’s main areas for self-reflection and improvement is in his (surprisingly, to him) healthy relationship with his girlfriend Dani. Corey has never had a serious girlfriend before, but has now been dating Dani long enough to start considering their next step together:

QUOTE
It’s a measure of my maturity in relationships that even in my own mind I call it the M word. I know that two adults who are in love and want to spend the rest of their lives together often naturally decide to M, but I’m not yet at the point where I can say the entire word.

I wish I had never started this reflection stuff because it’s made me realize that Dani might not want to M me if I asked. I mean, she has never brought it up, not once. Never even hinted at it. Is that normal for a woman who wants to get M..ed?
END QUOTE

Corey’s growing maturity is as much a draw as the rest of this book’s entertaining qualities, including his devotion to the aging but still razor-sharp Simon. In line with this continuing evolution, the K-Team novels are gradually becoming as much of a must-read for me as the rest of David Rosenfelt’s excellent mysteries.

The K team investigates cold cases for the Paterson Police Department. The K tea consists of Corey Douglas, his
K-9 partner Simon Garfunkel, Laurie Collins, and Marcus Clark. They get to choose the cold cases they want to investigate.. Corey knows the cold case he wants to investigate as it was his former mentor, Jimmy Dietrich. When Jimmy retired, he ended up getting divorced. He then tried to get back on the force but was told no. Not long after two bodies were found in the Passaic River. They were Jimmy Dietrich and a woman Susan Avery. With no evidence the case became a cold case. There were rumors whispered but were any of them true? The police thought it might had been a murder-suicide but Corey never thought it was true. Corey believes that taking this cold case, he can clear Jimmy’s name. Will the K 9 team be able to do this with so little evidence in the cold case file?

I liked this complicated mystery with new faces and identities. It wasn’t a mystery that I could not solve myself. It kept me on the edge-of-my-seat. The mystery has complicated twists and turns. The ending of the mystery was a true surprise for me.

I so very much enjoy David Rosenfelt’s stand alone novels and the Andy Carpenter series. I thought the K9 series would be great as well, as three of the characters carry over. However, Marcus and Laurie are behind the scene for the majority of the book and Andy is completely off stage, out of the theater entirely. I miss his wit and machinations. Instead, Corey is the star performer on stage which was a disappointment. Regretting , I didn’t engage with his character at all.

Another problem I had was the multiple characters that meandered throughout- too many to count and keep up with, which made following their involvement very confusing. With so many characters comes many scenarios and divergent plot lines. While I enjoy a complex storyline, this one became convoluted. And confusing.

While I appreciate and applaud David Rosenfelt’s work, I think I will stick with the tried and true Andy Carpenter series. I’m not a fan of the K9 series, or at least not this installment. I looked forward to visiting with Andy, Laurie and Marcus, and therefore had unmet expectations.

I thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy.

I will never not like a David Rosenfelt novel. I admire his ability to write great characters and invent good plots. This is the fourth book in his new series The K Team, featuring Corey Douglas and K-9 partner, Simon Garfunkel, along with Laurie Collins and Marcus Clark, who we know from Rosenfelt's other series featuring Andy Carpenter, reluctant defense lawyer. The K Team has been hired to investigate cold cases for the Paterson Police Department. Corey insists the team review the case of a murdered ex-cop. As they proceed, it becomes apparent there was a lot more to the murder than meets the eye. As they bodies begin to mount up, The K Team has to figure out what is the connection between all the new murders and the cold case they are investigating.

Good Dog, Bad Cop is a well written mystery. Enjoyed the plot and the characters. I definitely recommend this book. I received an advance ebook from the publisher and Netgalley. This is my unbiased review.

4.5 stars = I loved it! Would re-read.

Twisty and jaw-dropping! I really enjoyed this case and watching the team tease out what's going on. Rosenfelt does a great job keeping a distinct voice for Corey in this series and Andy in the other series, even though the two share a lot of the same core characters. Rosenfelt fans should not miss this series.

I have mixed feelings about these books but I always keep reading! Rosenfelt writes fast paced books with snarky characters that can be read in a few (or fewer 😅) sittings. They're relatively short but I tend to be thrown off by the lack of chapter headings - that said, the finished copies may be different from the ARCs.

This story once again features the Corey and Dani relationship when they aren't solving cases. He can't say the word, but he is thinking about "M...ing" her now and it's hilarious that he's thinking about it like that.

I like the case itself. I didn't see the answers coming at all, except for those that Rosenfelt gives us as foreshadowing.  That said, my least favorite part is his bad guy "foreshadowing" chapters. He just gives us a few of the answers and then lets the detectives work back to that point, or not, but the readers know either way.  I just don't love that style and he does it in many of his books.

I also didn't think the "big threat" in Good Dog, Bad Cop was handled well.  It was presented as one big bad guy and then didn't impact the case at all, nor did it add a lot of threat for me since no one was that worried about it.  The cases that the K Team were working on were fun though and it was interesting to see the clues come together.

So...I don't *love* these books but I keep reading because I love K9 detectives and they're quick, fun books.  I still wish Simon got more page time but I'll always applaud when he gets to take down a bad guy.

Overall: not a perfect read but lots of fun to be had with the K Team, with appearances from Andy Carpenter. Would recommend for fans of fun detective novels with fairly high stakes and cold cases.

In the current K Team investigation they are working on three cold cases. Corey’s past mentor is pulled from the River with another woman. Rumors swirl that it is an affair or lovers gone wrong situation but Corey knows that’s not possible.

The death of another cop seems to be connected and they just have to prove it.

A lot of players are involved and Sam is perfect at “cyber-entering” and getting information. He almost steals the show.

The cold cases lead in so many directions it will have you burning up the pages to try and solve it!

3.5 stars

In this 4th book in the 'K Team' series, the private detective agency investigates the murder of a police officer and an alleged murder-suicide. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the characters is a bonus.

*****

The K Team series is a spin-off of Rosenfelt's humorous 'Andy Carpenter' mystery series, set in Paterson, New Jersey. Andy is a criminal defense lawyer whose wife, private detective Laurie Collins Carpenter, is the investigator for his firm.

Now Laurie is part of a new detective agency that calls itself 'The K Team.' The members of The K Team are Laurie; Marcus Clark - the toughest, scariest guy on the planet; Corey Douglas - a retired cop; and Simon Garfunkel - a K-9 German shepherd who worked with Corey at the Paterson Police Department.

The Paterson Police Department has extra money for consultants, so Homicide Captain Pete Stanton hires the K Team to look into cold cases. This time Stanton lets the investigators choose the cold crimes they'll investigate, and they pick the murder of police officer Danny Avery a year-and-a half ago, and the homicides of retired cop Jimmy Dietrich and Susan Avery (Danny's wife) a few months later.

Danny was shot in his car while he was parked in front of a private home down the street from Marcella's restaurant; and Jimmy and Susan were found on Jimmy's boat, which was floating in the ocean. The Jimmy and Susan homicides were called murder-suicide, but Corey - who considered Jimmy a friend and mentor - doesn't believe it.

The K Team speculates that Danny was waiting for someone to leave Marcella's restaurant, and they get Sam Willis - a computer hacker extraordinaire - to get the eatery's customer list for the night in question. This starts an investigation that turns out to be wide-ranging and dangerous.

The K Team also conjectures that the murders of Jimmy and Susan were connected to Danny's death, and their inquiries along these lines reveal important clues.

Corey and Laurie interview witnesses, check phone records, examine computer files, etc. while Marcus provides security and muscle....in case anyone poses a threat or needs a beating to cooperate. Simon Garfunkel helps out as well, since he's been trained to attack bad guys.

Meanwhile, Corey continues his romance with event planner Dani Kendall, and the detective's comments about the relationship provide the lighter moments in the book. For instance Corey recalls that most of his relationships 'lasted about an hour-and-a half, give or take forty-five minutes' but Danny tricked him by being 'funny, smart, beautiful, and independent.' All this has Corey thinking about the M-word, and since he can't bring himself to say the entire word, Corey wonders if Dani might want to M him if he asked. 🙂

As always in Rosenfelt's books, there are a great many characters and a complicated conspiracy at the heart of the plot. Thus the story can be a little confusing, but I enjoyed the novel and recommend it to fans of cozy-ish mysteries.

Thanks to Netgalley, David Rosenfelt, and Minotaur Books for a copy of the manuscript.

Final Review 3, good dog, bad cop by David Rosenfelt Mar 16, 2023

In Paterson, New Jersey, a group of private investigators calling themselves the K Team risks their lives to solve three cold cases. Before they can be approved to work on the first murder, they must also agree to work on the other two. The team needs to find the people who killed the victims and clear the officers’ names if they can. Murder, cold case investigations, loyalty, and teamwork are significant themes throughout this novel. The K Team uses various criteria to select cold case files. With police support, they can use official records and expertise to solve cases. Pete Stanton, Andy’s friend and the head of the local police department, hired the K Team to consult on cold cases. Corey Douglas, a retired police officer, narrates the police procedural.

Corey’s former police mentor died violently. The records showed it may have been a suicide, but Corey doesn’t believe it. He feels personally involved in this case and is determined to find the murderer and clear Jimmy's name. Jimmy D., Corey’s mentor, a retired cop, was found dead alongside Susan Avery, a suspected murder-suicide. There are rumors of an affair and a bad cop. The K Team is hesitant to believe that. Corey especially wants his squad to solve the cold-case murder of Danny Avery. Are the three murders connected? Jimmy didn’t commit suicide, according to Corey. Therefore, the K Team investigates all three cold cases. Do you think these murders are related?
The plot and investigation meander throughout the mean streets of Paterson as the leads are few and often misleading. The team’s first objective is to link the three murders. Despite all the false tips, there’s enough success to keep the group going. The plot is hard to follow, and I couldn’t see where it would end. That challenged me and kept me working on it.

Where’s the dog? Switching genres is one of the things that pulls me out of a story the fastest. “Good Dog, Bad Dog” is presented as an animal fiction and private investigator novel. Yes, it’s primarily about private investigators. However, Simon Garfunkel, a retired police dog and official member of the K Team, is shown on the book cover front and center as a significant character. He’s even in the title: “Good Dog.” That’s why I chose this book. I was disappointed to see limited active parts for him and some token mentions. Overall, the book seemed a little cloudy to me. Perhaps that’s because I hadn’t read the three previous books in the series. I recommend reading the others first to better understand the characters and how they work together.

Every time David Rosenfelt come out with a new installment in both his cozy series, I jump all over the chance to read them. From the awesome cover designs and punny titles to the quips and smart aleck narration of the protag, I always scramble to be among the first group to read one.
This caper didn't disappoint. Our narrator is trying to solve a cold case with the help of his crack team trying to catch up with the baddies, who seem together more and more bad with each new installment.
Laurie, Andy Carpenter's wife, who, part of the newer investigative team is one of my favorites, as is Marcus, because well, Marcus! I would always want a guy like Marcus on my team. I won't give anything away because it follows the usual progression of the author's series, but it is definitely a treat to read on the Kindle late at night when one can't sleep.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to preview in exchange for a review of my thoughts.