In this 10th book in the humorous 'Andy Carpenter' series, the Paterson, New Jersey defense attorney gets a new trial for a man he thinks was wrongly convicted.
*****
Ever since he inherited a large fortune, defense lawyer Andy Carpenter takes very few cases.
Instead, Andy likes to hang out with his girlfriend Laurie Collins and his golden retriever Tara; watch sports; schmooze with his friends; help run a canine rescue operation called 'The Tara Foundation'; and so on.
Six years ago Andy defended Joey Desimone, who was tried for killing a married couple called Richard and Karen Solarno.
Joey had an affair with Karen, and was angry when she broke it off, but swears he didn't kill the couple. Joey was convicted anyway, and Andy thinks it's because Joey's father is Carmine Desimone, head of the Desimone crime family.....so 'guilt by association.'
Now, new information has emerged about the victim Richard Solarno. It turns out Richard - who worked for mob boss Carmine Desimone - had a side gig selling weapons to right-wing militias. Six years ago, a Montana militia threatened Richard's life because he sold them inferior guns.
Dylan Campbell, the prosecutor in Joey Desimone's case, was informed about these threats, but didn't share the information with the defense. This 'prosecutorial misconduct' opened the door for a new trial, and Andy is now defending Joey again....while Dylan Campbell is fuming.
As Andy prepares his new case, he looks into Richard Solarno's shenanigans six years ago, and identifies people (other than Joey) who might have wanted to kill Richard. This opens a HUGE can of worms because a group of people with VERY evil intentions don't want their activities exposed. For this reason, the greedy cabal is killing off people right and left, and Andy himself is in danger.
Andy is assisted in his trial preparations by the following people:
⦿ Laurie: Andy's girlfriend, a former cop who's now a private investigator.
⦿ Sam: Andy's accountant, a computer genius who can hack into anything and everything. Sam is anxious to be a 'real detective' with 'boots on the ground', but when Sam gets his feet on the ground, things don't go so well.
⦿ Hike: Andy's law partner, who - in Andy's opinion - is the most boring man on earth. Just being in Hike's presence makes Andy sleepy. On the upside, Hike is very good at writing up motions.
⦿ Marcus: a security expert who's so big and tough you'd be better off with him than with a platoon of marines. Laurie often dispatches Marcus to watch Andy's back.
⦿ Edna: Andy's secretary, whose 'work' consists mostly of picking up her paychecks.
The plot is overly contrived and the villains' demonic scheme is too stomach-churning for a cozy mystery. Still, the book has a good dose of humor, and it's always great to visit with Tara, who's (briefly) a therapy dog in this story.
I'll keep reading these books because - though they're formulaic - Andy's sarcastic remarks make me laugh, and these fun cozies are good 'palate cleansers' between darker tomes.
Rating: 3 stars
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