Review of "The K Team: K-Team Mystery # 1" by David Rosenfelt

This book 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 German shepherd who worked with Corey at the Paterson Police Department. The K Team is hired by Judge Henry (The Hatchet) Henderson who's being blackmailed. Clever extortionists have made it look like the judge takes bribes. The miscreants have sent the judge statements from a Cayman Islands bank account in his name - which Henderson never opened - that contains almost $400,000. Now Henderson wants The K Team to find the scoundrels before they start making demands. The K Team gets on the job, and things soon get complicated. It's clear that some well-funded entity has nefarious plans to make a fortune, and it somehow involves Judge Henderson. Moreover, the wastrels aren't above committing murder to further their ends. The story is narrated by Corey, who infuses his narrative with humor and quips. For example, when Marcus responds 'Ynnhh' to a remark, Corey observes, "I've learned that Marcus is a man of few words, none of them remotely understandable." And when a detective interviews Marcus, Corey observes, "I'm sure (it) will go down in state police annals as the least productive interview ever." In another scene, Corey observes that a pimp named Rico violates his "Pimpian Code" when he allows his employee to engage in a conversation with a man that doesn't involve money. All this adds a light element to the tale. 🙂 We also get a peek at Marcus's superhuman capabilities. When a pimp hits a woman, Corey notes, "Marcus has been standing silently next to me, then suddenly he is not. He has his hands on the pimp and does something I've never seen before. He lifts him off his feet and tosses him up over the car. The guy clears the car by at least eighteen inches; his ass faces the ground as he sails backward, as if he is an Olympic high jumper." Several characters from the Andy Carpenter series make an appearance, including Police Detective Pete Stanton - who cooperates with The K Team; newspaper editor Vince Sanders, who's so devoted to free food and beer that if he wasn't invited to a celebration, he would crash the party anyway; and gray-haired computer hacker Sam Willis, who's so talented he could probably use his computer to get the national nuclear weapons codes. The book is a fine beginning to a new series, recommended to fans of amusing mysteries. Thanks to Netgalley, the author (David Rosenfelt), and the publisher (Minotaur Books) for a copy of the book. Rating: 3.5 stars