Review of "New Tricks: An Andy Carpenter Mystery" by David Rosenfelt

  

In this 7th book in the Andy Carpenter series, the Paterson, New Jersey attorney defends a man charged with murdering his father and stepmother.

*****

Ever since he inherited a large fortune, defense lawyer Andy Carpenter takes very few cases.



Instead, Andy prefers to watch sports; walk his golden retriever Tara; phone his girlfriend Laurie - who's chief of police in Findlay, Wisconsin; and hang out at Charlie's Sports Bar, where he schmoozes with his two best friends, Police Lieutenant Pete Stanton and newspaper editor Vince Sanders.



When Andy gets a summons from Judge Henry 'Hatchett' Henderson, he cringes a bit, assuming he'll be asked to be the 'public defender' for a Hispanic man accused of killing pharmaceutical magnate Walter Timmerman - who was murdered in a rundown area of downtown Paterson.



Henderson has something else in mind, though. Walter Timmerman owned a 7-month-old Bermese mountain dog called Waggy, who's descended from champions.



Timmerman's son Steven, who makes custom furniture, wants the dog.....



.....as does Timmerman's elegant widow Diana (Steven's stepmother).



Judge Henderson wants Andy to adjudicate the custody fight, and to keep Waggy at his house until it's resolved. On the very morning Andy picks Waggy up from the Timmermans' house, a bomb blows up the property and kills Diana.



The authorities decide there's a connection between the murders of Walter Timmerman and his widow Diana, so they release the Hispanic man from jail, and arrest Steven Timmerman for both homicides.



Andy becomes Steven's defense attorney, but he has his work cut out for him. Steven was an explosives expert in the marines, and he was in the downtown area when his father was killed. If Steven's not guilty, someone is setting him up.



Andy assembles his legal team, which is comprised of:

➤ Kevin Randall - Andy's associate, a hypochondriac who supplements his income by running the Law-dromat, an establishment at which he dispenses free legal advice to customers who come in to wash their clothes.



➤ Edna - Andy's secretary, who considers using a copy machine too much work;



➤ Sam Willis - Andy's accountant and a talented computer hacker who can break into any database;



➤ Marcus Clark - the toughest guy on the planet, who watches Andy's back and squeezes information out of bad guys when needed.



➤ Laurie Collins - Andy's girlfriend, who's visiting from Wisconsin. Since Laurie is a detective, she can help investigate the Timmermans' deaths.



Things start to go wrong immediately, and the center of the trouble seems to be Waggy. A hitman is trying to kill Waggy, and Walter's old friend Charles Robinson is trying to get custody of Waggy, to make him a show dog.

Andy formulates one conspiracy theory after another to expose Walter and Diana's murderer...,



.....and his speculations revolve around Walter's work as a pharmaceutical entrepreneur; Walter's studies of DNA; and Walter's $400 million fortune.



At one point or another, Andy suspects EVERY PERSON in Walter's circle, and all this is confusing and hard to follow. I had to read the final chapters twice to figure out who did what and why.



On the upside, we get to see a softer side of Marcus, who dogsits Waggy for a time, to keep the pooch safe.



I also liked the trademark courtroom scenes, where Andy shows off his sarcastic quips and sense of humor.



I've read many of the Andy Carpenter books (in random order) and this novel isn't among the best in the bunch. Nevertheless, I enjoyed visiting with some favorite characters, especially Tara - who's SO patient with the energetic pup Waggy.



For newbies to the series, this isn't the place to start. But for longtime fans, you'll want to read the novel and observe Andy propose to Laurie....and see what she says. 😊

Rating: 3 stars