Review of "Animal Instinct: A K Team Mystery" by David Rosenfelt

This fun series is a spin-off of David Rosenfelt's humorous 'Andy Carpenter' mystery books, set in Paterson, New Jersey. Andy is a criminal defense lawyer who's assisted by a team of private investigators called 'The K Team.' In this second K Team novel, one of the private detectives is accused of murder. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

Andy Carpenter's wife Laurie, an ex-cop, was his law firm's private investigator until she joined the K Team, which now does Andy's detective work. The members of the K Team are Laurie;



Corey Douglas, a retired cop, and his dog Simon Garfunkel, a K-9 German shepherd who worked with Corey at the Paterson Police Department;



and Marcus Clark - the toughest, scariest guy on the planet.



The K Team is also assisted by Andy's accountant/computer hacker Sam Willis, who often uses 'extra-legal' means to get information.



As the story opens a woman named Lisa Yates is shot in the street. Former cop Corey Douglas feels guilty about Lisa's death because he thinks he let her down. As a Paterson, NJ police officer, Corey had investigated a domestic violence report at Lisa's house.



Corey was sure Lisa's boyfriend Gerald Kline hit her, but Lisa refused to press charges. Thus, other than threatening Kline, Corey was helpless to assist the injured woman.

Now that Lisa is dead, Corey is sure Kline killed her. When the police can't find evidence against Kline, Corey and the K Team decide to investigate themselves. Before long Kline is murdered as well, and Corey - who was known to have an animus towards the man - is arrested for murder.

Andy becomes Corey's defense attorney, and the K Team turns its energy toward finding the real killer.



The squad believes the same person killed Lisa and Kline, and looks for connections between the two victims. The investigators learn that Lisa did data entry work at Ardmore Medical Services, which stores medical records for use by doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, etc.



And Kline was a headhunter for medical service agencies and gave seminars about working in the medical services industry.



Thus medical services seems like a common factor in the murders, and the detectives hone in on and interview executives and employees of Ardmore Medical Services. This alarms the CEO of Ardmore (not a spoiler).....



.....and leads to additional murders, including an attempt on Corey's life.

The Paterson police and the district attorney don't believe the ongoing crime spree is connected to Kline's killing, and Corey's murder trial is put on the fast track. This chagrins and frustrates the K Team, whose investigation keeps running into dead ends.....almost like someone is manipulating them.

Rosenfelt's mysteries follow a pattern, and the reader can expect amusing banter among the characters, a huge conspiracy perpetrated by the evildoers, a trial scene where Andy shows his cleverness and mettle, and fun scenes with the dogs - including Corey's German shepherd Simon Garfunkel, and the Carpenters' golden retriever Tara and basset hound Sebastian.



The book's fun continues into the acknowledgements, where Rosenfelt thanks the many people who (allegedly) helped with his writing career. You'll probably recognize some of the names. 😃

I enjoyed this cozy mystery, and recommend it to fans of the genre.

Thanks to Netgalley, David Rosenfelt, and Minotaur books for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars