In this 33rd book in the 'Andy Carpenter' series, Andy defends a man accused of murdering a billionaire.
*****
Ever since he inherited a large fortune, New Jersey defense lawyer Andy Carpenter takes very few cases.
Instead,
Andy spends time with his wife Laurie; plays video games with his
16-year-old son Ricky; visits his dog rescue operation called the Tara
Foundation;
and
plays with his three pooches - golden retriever Tara; basset hound
Sebastian; and pug Hunter. Andy takes Tara and Hunter for long walks
every morning and evening, but lazy Sebastian prefers to do his business
in the yard, between naps. 
In
his spare time, Andy also likes watching sports on TV and hanging out
with his friends, newspaper editor Vince Sanders and Homicide Captain
Pete Stanton, at Charlie's Sports Bar. Since Andy is a millionaire, he
always pays the bill - and sometimes gets useful information in return.
Despite
his reluctance to work, Andy feels compelled to take a new case when he
gets a call from his friend Lou Campanelli, who runs a drug and alcohol
rehab program called 'A Day at a Time'. Lou asks Andy to represent a
recovering alcoholic called Jason Maddox, who has a tragic story. 
Jason
saw his son killed by a shark, after which he became a homeless
alcoholic. Lou helped Jason get clean, and Jason - a physicist and tech
expert - now lives at the rehab center with his dog Hope, and helps out
with the clients.
Jason
Maddox has been accused of killing a billionaire inventor named Paul
Vincent, who was stabbed in an alley behind 'A Day at a Time'. Lou
insists Jason is innocent, and Andy - who's a sucker for dogs like Hope -
takes the case.
Andy
decides the best way to exonerate Jason is the SODDI (Some Other Dude
Did It) defense, so Andy assembles his associates. This includes 'The K
Team' detective agency, whose investigators are: Andy's wife Laurie
Collins - a former police officer;
Corey Douglas - a retired cop; 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.
In addition to The K Team, Andy calls in his accountant Sam Willis - who can hack into any computer anywhere;
his assistant attorney Eddie Dowd - who's especially good with paperwork and motions;
and
his secretary Edna - who draws a paycheck but doesn't do any work; this
time, Edna claims to be getting a dental implant, which prevents her
coming to the office.
Andy
and his squad turn up an array of alternative suspects including
Vincent's former business partner, who lost money when Paul broke up the
partnership; a drug dealer Vincent put in prison; a mob boss; a driver
who had a fender bender with Vincent; Vincent's former stepson; people
in Vincent's will; and more.
As
always in these books, Andy ribs the prosecuting attorney. This time
the prosecutor is Dylan Campbell, whom Andy has beat three times. Andy
tells Dylan, "This is your chance to become the Buffalo Bills of
prosecutors", referring to the fact the Bills are famous for having lost
four Super Bowls in a row.
The
Andy Carpenter novels are always humorous, with Andy making sarcastic
quips and jokes throughout. There are also courtroom scenes, and Andy
usually scores points off prosecution witnesses. Still, there's not a
'Perry Mason' moment when someone confesses, so Andy has to sweat it out
during jury deliberation. When Andy happily exposes the real killer, we
find out about the modus operandi and the twisty motive, which is
trademark David Rosenfelt.
I enjoy these books, but the formula is getting a little old. Still, I'd recommend the mystery to Andy Carpenter fans.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Grover Gardner, who does a fine job.
Thanks to Netgalley, David Rosenfelt, and Macmillan Audio for an ARC of the book.
No comments:
Post a Comment