Rescued

Rescued is the seventeenth book in David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter Mystery series. Sufficient background information is provided to allow this great book to be read as a standalone. This is a cozy, with a humorous hero, who has a happy home life with his human and canine family. There is some adult language in this book, but no graphic violence or adult situations. I enjoy this author’s writing style and witty dialog. Mr. Rosenfelt has written a fast paced, well thought out, interesting and complex mystery, with a good story line, excellent character development, fun and quirky characters, and twists and turns that keeps the reader engaged. I highly recommend this book to all cozy mystery fans.

Andy Carpenter is an independently wealthy defense attorney who runs the Tara Foundation, an animal rescue organization, with his friends, Willie and Sondra Miller. Andy lives in Paterson, New Jersey with his wife, Laurie, their adopted son, Ricky, and two dogs, Tara and Sebastian. Andy gets a frantic call from Ralph Brandenberger, the director of the Passaic County Animal Shelter, and since Laurie isn’t available, he calls Willie. When they arrive, Andy talks to his friend, Pete Stanton, the captain of the Paterson Police Department’s homicide division and they learn that there’s a truckload of dogs and one human murder victim. Ralph tells him the dogs, over sixty of them, are rescues.

The next call Andy receives is from his wife … get home now! When Andy arrives, Dave Kramer, Laurie’s ex-boyfriend, is waiting for him. Dave wants to hire Andy to represent him for the murder of the truck driver, Kenny Zimmer, and admits he killed him, but claims it was self-defense. Andy doesn’t want to represent him, but Laurie wants him to, so he ultimately agrees and Laurie rounds up their team. The team consists of Andy, Laurie, former cop and investigator licensed to carry a gun, Edna, the self-proclaimed office manager who does as little work as possible, Hike Lynch, a fellow lawyer and doomsayer, Sam Willis, an accountant and computer genius, and Marcus Clark, a scary guy who protects Andy when necessary. The Bubalah Brigade, a group of octogenarians, Sam has trained in the art of computer hacking aren’t called in yet.

Dave, a former cop and private investigator, says Kenny, who he has a violent history with, attacked him with a knife and he shot him. The main problem for the defense team to overcome is that when the police arrived, there was no knife at the scene. As Andy and his team conduct their investigation and trial prep, a pattern of conspiracy, murders, and terrifying actions come to light.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

This was a fun book. I love David Rosenfelt's dry sense of humor. Something here for everyone. Several killings, some wonderful dogs, and a group of older people, the Bubalah Brigade, who help blow the case wide open. What more would you need? The main character, Carpenter, has a wonderful sense of humor and I can relate to the Brigade, they sound like my kind of people. I was very interested in the references to the different forms of investments. I used to work for a stock brokerage and found that Rosenfelt's information was accurate.

Another doggoned good Andy Carpenter mystery!
It is upsetting enough when New Jersey lawyer and dog-lover extraordinaire Andy Carpenter responds to an urgent call from the director of his local animal shelter and finds a truck full of seventy rescued stray dogs and a murder victim. It is worse when the man arrested for the murder turns out to be his wife Laurie’s handsome ex-Marine former lover…and Laurie wants him to defend the man. Andy is a reluctant lawyer at best and has not taken a case in six months, but, well, he could no more say “No” to Laurie than to Tara, his beloved golden retriever. Andy and his legal team find themselves in court once again.
David Rosenfelt's legal thrillers featuring wise-cracking New Jersey defense lawyer Andy Carpenter and an array of lovable canines and quirky humans are favorites of mine. They have interesting plots, likable characters, and a quiet but sassy humor that provokes more smiles than guffaws. A special feature is how Rosenfelt's love for dogs (He and his wife founded a dog rescue foundation.) shines via Andy's love for his Tara and the reliable involvement of dogs, even if they are in the background . These are not cozies, but they do NOT have the level of gore and grittiness that is very common in urban mysteries today. The opening scene is suspenseful and lets the reader know that some real nastiness has gone down, but when narrator Andy takes the floor, the tone lightens. Andy (and Rosenfelt) is still at the top of his game, both at solving crimes and at his characteristic commentary on people and life. For example, as he and his wife Laurie prepare for a meeting that could be dangerous, Andy says, “As a former cop, and an investigator licensed to carry a firearm, she can easily handle the situation. As a lawyer licensed to carry a briefcase, we both know I would be less effective.” This short passage displays so much of what I love about this series: Andy’s wry, often self-deprecating humor, his admiration and love for his wife, and his admirable modesty. Passages like this, which never fail to make me smile, abound in the book.
Andy’s cases are always interesting, and in this one there was so much going on that a reader would be excused for wondering if the author will tie everything into one neat package. Rosenfelt does it in this book with an outrageous scheme that fell barely into the “credible” category but that left some clues along the way and made me smile at its daring, if not its amorality.
If you are new to the series, you can enjoy this book very much without reading any of the others, but I would suggest you read the first book, Open and Shut, to get the background for Andy’s team and their circumstances, after which you can enjoy them in any order. There’s not a stinker in the bunch.
Andy may be a self-described “reluctant lawyer”, but he can’t resist a puzzle or ignore injustice, so I have every hope and expectation that he and his team will soon be at work again solving cases, entertaining his many readers, and taking care of man’s best friend.