In this 8th book in the 'Andy Carpenter' series, the criminal defense lawyer springs a German shepherd from confinement, then agrees to defend the pooch's owner from a murder charge. The book can be read as a standalone.
*****
Ever since defense attorney Andy Carpenter inherited a huge fortune from his father, he's been very picky about the cases he accepts.
Rather than work, Andy prefers to hang out with his girlfriend Laurie and take his golden retriever Tara for long walks.
Andy also likes to watch sports; help run a canine rescue operation called 'The Tara Foundation'; and schmooze with his friends - newspaper editor Vince Sanders and Homicide Captain Pete Stanton. Somehow, though, Andy ALWAYS gets pulled into defending some unfortunate soul.
As the book opens, Billy Zimmerman, a military veteran and former cop, is outside a New Jersey bar with his German shepherd Milo, a former K-9 dog trained to seize weapons from perps.
Now, Billy has taught Milo to snatch other things....
......and Billy is planning to steal something from his former army chief, Major Jack Erskine, who's hovering outside the bar, waiting for someone.
When Billy was serving under Major Erskine in Iraq, a suicide bomber killed many people and blew off Billy's leg. Billy believes Erskine colluded with the bombing for financial gain, and he wants revenge. As Billy and Milo surreptitiously watch Erskine, a car pulls up and Erskine takes out an envelope to hand to the passenger. At that moment, Milo leaps, grabs the envelope, and runs away. Meanwhile, there's a hubbub, and Erskine is shot and killed.
As things play out, Billy is arrested for murdering Erskine and Milo is taken into custody and put under 24-hour watch. It seems both the military and a bevy of criminals want the envelope Milo hid, but no one knows where it is.
Andy's friend, homicide detective Pete Stanton, knows Billy from his cop days, and asks Andy to help his old friend. So Andy agrees to bail out Milo, and eventually (and reluctantly) consents to defend Billy.
Much of the series' charm revolves around Andy's quips and jokes. For instance, Andy describes visiting Milo in detention as follows: "I take out my cell phone and point it in the general direction of the dog and the officers surrounding him. I’m videotaping this, I say. Anything happens to that dog, it’s going viral. Of course, I barely know how to use the cell phone, and I can’t imagine it has video capabilities, but it’s dark out, and the officers would have no way of knowing that."
Then as Andy leaves to get a court order to free Milo, he says, “Milo, don’t talk to anybody about anything. Anybody asks you something, refer them to your lawyer. If you need anything, cigarettes, reading material, whatever, just tell the guard."
Once Milo is in Andy's custody, the German shepherd is in constant danger of being kidnapped by the aforementioned crooks. So Andy makes security arrangements for Milo AND does 'trust exercises' with the dog, to persuade him to reveal the location of the envelope.
The book alternates between Andy's preparations for Billy's trial, and the activities of the criminal cabal seeking the envelope. The felonious syndicate includes former soldiers; businessmen; an assassin; a powerful muckety-muck; and more. The bad guys have a complicated money-making scheme, and are willing to commit murder and mayhem to achieve their goals.
Meanwhile, Andy is planning a SODDI (some other dude did it) defense for Billy Zimmerman, as is his usual habit. Andy's defense team and helpers include:
Laurie Collins - Andy's girlfriend, a former cop who's now a private detective. Laurie has a gun and she knows how to use it. This is a good thing, because Andy is an admitted coward.
Marcus Clark - the toughest guy on the planet, who provides security when needed. In this case, Marcus is guarding Milo, and eating Andy out of house and home along the way.
Sam Willis - Andy's accountant, a computer genius who can hack into anything, and is especially good at obtaining phone records.
Edna - Andy's office manager, who goofs off and does crossword puzzles much more than she works.
Hike - Andy's new law partner, a pessimist and the most boring man on earth, but a whiz at writing legal briefs and motions.
Willie Miller - Andy's partner in the 'Tara Foundation', who was once on Death Row for a crime he didn't commit. Willie helped a mobster in prison, which gives him a useful 'in' with crime lords.
In an amusing scene, Hike and Willie are flying to Nassau, first class, for the case. While Willie is enjoying the luxurious trip.....
......Hike is keeping up a CONSTANT litany of complaints: the cabin is too cold; the chicken is stringy; the bloody marys are watered down; and they're going to die anyway. If not now, then on the small plane hop to Nassau. By the time they land in Nassau, Willie would rather swim back to New York than fly with Hike.
When preparing for the return trip, Willie wonders if he has time to buy a gun to shoot Hike during the flight back; or if he throws Hike out of the plane between Nassau and the U.S., which country he'll be charged in. 😊
Not surprisingly, Andy eventually exposes the criminal syndicate and their nefarious scheme. I've said before that the Andy Carpenter books are formulaic but fun, and fans of the series would enjoy this book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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