Review of "Dog Eat Dog: An Andy Carpenter Mystery" by David Rosenfelt

 

In this 23rd book in the 'Andy Carpenter' series, the defense attorney represents a man accused of a double murder. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

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



Instead, Andy devotes his time to hanging out with his wife, son, and dogs.....





.....schmoozing with his friends; helping run a canine rescue operation called 'The Tara Foundation'; watching sports; and so on.



Still, when a fellow dog lover gets in trouble, Andy feels compelled to help. This comes about when Andy and his wife Laurie are walking their dogs Tara and Sebastian, and hear a pooch yelping in pain. They look up to see a man kicking a cute pug. Laurie runs over to stop the miscreant, but another man beats her to it. The rescuer gets into a scuffle with the dog abuser.....



.....and the police take both the creep and the hero into custody, until they can determine what's what. Meanwhile, Andy and Laurie take home the pug, called Hunter.



It turns out there's a warrant for the dog rescuer, whose name is Matt Jantzen. Two years ago, Peter Charkin and his girlfriend Tina Welker were shot to death in Maine, and Matt's DNA was found at the crime scene. Thus Matt is arrested.....



.....and Andy, who believes a dog lover can't be a murderer, agrees to be his defense attorney.

Because the trial is being held in Maine, Andy needs a Maine lawyer to sign on. So Andy hires Charlie Tilton, who does most of the paperwork while Andy prepares for trial.



Andy's New Jersey team arrives in Maine as well, including computer hacker Sam Willis.....



.....and the K-Team. The K-Team is a detective agency composed of Andy's ex-cop wife Laurie;



tough guy Marcus;



ex-cop Corey Douglas; and Corey's K-9 partner Simon Garfunkel.



Laurie books everyone a suite in the Cod Cove Inn, and Andy observes, "It's perfect for what I need. It's unlike what I picture in a small town inn; it has running water, an elevator, stairs that don't creak, comfortable large rooms, and working telephones. Most important, it televisions in the rooms! With cable! And ESPN."



Andy likes the delicious breakfast muffins at the hotel.....



.....and the lobster rolls sold in eateries across the state (which do sound yummy).



As Andy prepares for trial, he and his team interview witnesses, including friends and colleagues of the murdered couple. Andy discovers that the male victim, Peter Charkin, had ties to drug pushers and right wing militias. So Andy decides his defense strategy will be 'the other guy did it' - which seems to get someone's hackles up, because Andy is threatened by goons.



A good part of the book consists of Andy walking his dogs, cracking jokes, and making snide remarks, which is usual in this series. In one scene, Andy and Laurie are eating at their favorite Maine restaurant, King Eider's, and Andy observes: "Laurie got something of a thrill. She noticed one of her favorite novelists, a guy named David Rosenfelt, having dinner in the next booth."



"Laurie considered asking him for his autograph, but decided it would be too pushy to interrupt his meal. I don't get it anyway. I tried reading one of his books and could barely get through fifty pages." 😀

When Matt's case goes to trial Andy shows his mettle as a clever cross-examiner, and I was on tenterhooks as the jury came in to deliver it's verdict.

I always enjoy the Andy Carpenter books, which are formulaic but fun. I especially like the dog scenes. For instance Andy's basset hound Sebastian "walks with the speed and dexterity of your average refrigerator/freezer" and "getting him to reverse direction is akin to turning the Queen Mary."



This is an entertaining novel, recommended to fans of amusing mysteries.

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

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Missing and the Dead: A Detective Logan McRae Thriller" by Stuart MacBride

In this 9th book in the Logan McRae series the Scottish detective investigates several serious crimes, and (as usual) gets in trouble for not following the rules. The criminal wrongdoing is grievous, but a mainstay of the Logan McRae books are the entertaining characters and the pervasive humor, which provide much-needed light moments.

The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

Detective Sergeant Logan McRae has a lot on his mind.



He was reassigned from Aberdeen CID to a community policing position in the Scottish burbs of Aberdeenshire; his important cases are immediately taken over by a Major Incident Team (MIT); his house near the police station is moldy and dilapidated; his injured girlfriend Samantha hasn't moved or spoken in four years, and the fee for her care home uses up most of his paycheck; he was the sperm donor for a lesbian couple - the cantankerous Detective Chief Inspector Roberta Steel and her wife - so he has a daughter; and more.

The book is a police procedural, and we follow Logan over a period of days as he catches various cases and works them with his colleagues.

As the story opens Logan is chasing down sociopath Graham Stirling.



Stirling is suspected of abducting and torturing a man called Stephen Bisset, who advertised for kinky sex online. To learn Bisset's s location, and hopefully save his life, Logan cuts corners. This comes back to bite Logan on the butt, and turns out to be a kind of pattern for the detective, whose best intentions have a way of going wrong.

Logan's other cases include:

⦿ A cow in the road, stopping traffic.



⦿ An elderly woman who's not answering her phone or door.



⦿ A rash of missing pedophiles.



⦿ A gang that's stealing ATM machines.



⦿ A sullen bedraggled drug addict who shoplifts perfume and makeup for money.



The addicted girl makes a deal by outing her suppliers......



.....and a raid on the pushers' house uncovers an £80,000 stash of dope. MIT takes over, but Logan (not so secretly) keeps investigating.



⦿ A little girl's body is found in a seedy outdoor pool.



An appeal to the public for the girl's ID results in a call from a woman who thinks the child may be her abducted daughter.



Once again, MIT takes over. However Logan's tender instincts are aroused, and he's desperate to identify the child and discover who killed her.



The main plotlines converge toward the end of the book, leading to a dramatic climax.

On the lighter side: Logan saves money by giving himself a terrible haircut and subsisting on cans of cheap lentil soup; one cop on a team is designated the 'piddler' who - pretending to use the bathroom - secretly searches a suspect's home while the rest of the squad asks questions; DCI Roberta Steele- who has stick up hair and awful clothes - looks like Detective Colombo if he was run over by a lawn mower; a grimy, dirty, brown-toothed drug addict designates himself Logan's confidential informer, causing trouble with Logan's superiors; and more.

Among the best elements of the novel are the diverse array of cops, whose personalities and foibles are entertaining and fun.



This is a good addition to the Logan McRae series, recommended to fans of droll police procedurals.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "The Ninth Metal: The Comet Cycle #1" by Benjamin Percy

This is the first book in the Comet Cycle Series, about the consequences of a comet passing close to the Earth.

*****

Northfall, Minnesota was a quiet mining town until planet Earth spun through the debris field of the comet Cain.



As millions of meteorites fell to the ground, the sky flared, the ground shook, electricity went dark, radio signals scrambled, dogs howled, and people screamed. The debris landed everywhere, but Northfall got the largest deposits of a substance called 'omnimetal.'



Omnimetal has a phenomenal ability to hold and deliver energy. If you strike omnimetal, or shake it, or electrify it, it absorbs the energy, stores it, and then releases it. Omnimetal can be used to power cars, trains, planes, cell phones, and other battery-powered appliances. It can disrupt communication and transportation networks. And it can be weaponized.



Thus omnimetal is the most valuable commodity on the planet. Thousands of people rush to Northfall to dig for omnimetal or to work for mining companies.....and merchants, prostitutes, strippers, etc. follow to service the workers.



The largest miners of omnimetal are two rival companies, Frontier Metals and Black Dog Energy, both of which have elaborate excavating operations.



Both Frontier Metals and Black Dog Energy are buying up property in Northfall, and both are bidding on an area called Gunderson Woods, which has a GINORMOUS deposit of the valuable material. The competitive owners of Frontier Metals and Black Dog Energy would do ANYTHING to obtain metal-rich holdings, including bribery, coercion, blackmail, physical assault, kidnapping and murder.

To add to omnimetal's mystique, individuals who were bombarded with the material during the meteor shower and SURVIVED were radically changed. After a terribly painful adaptation, the victims became almost indestructible. In addition, they can take in, store, and give off huge amounts of energy.....glowing blue as they do so.



One schoolboy named Hawkin was transformed in this manner, and the government has him locked away in inhumane conditions for research purposes.



The main protagonist in the story is a man named John Frontier, whose family owns Frontier Metals. John was a troublemaker as a youth and left Northfall to become a better person. Now, after five years away, John returns to attend his sister's wedding.



John wants nothing to do with the family mining company, and plans to leave after the nuptials. Things don't work out that way, however, and John gets drawn into the conflict between Frontier Metals and Black Dog Energy. John also gets involved with other things in Northfall.....things that endanger his life.

The story is an action-packed sci-fi thriller with an eclectic array of characters, a touch of romance, and a superhero vibe. It's a fine beginning to the Comet Cycle series.

Thanks to Netgalley, Benjamin Percy, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Candy Corn Murder: A Lucy Stone Mystery" by Leslie Meier

In this 22nd book in the Lucy Stone series, the newspaper reporter/amateur sleuth fits a murder investigation into her busy life. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****



Lucy Stone is a wife, mother, and journalist in Tinker's Cove, Maine, a seaside town that relies on tourists for it's economic well-being. To lure visitors to the area for Halloween, Tinker's Cove is putting on a Giant Pumpkin Fest.



This will feature life-size dioramas made with 'pumpkin people';



and contests such as the biggest pumpkin;



the pumpkin hurled the farthest with a trebuchet;



pumpkin carving;



pumpkin boat races; and more.



Lucy and her husband Bill.....



.....are currently looking after their 4-year-old grandson Patrick, whose parents are away.



Little Patrick is looking forward to Halloween. The boy helps his grandpa Bill grow a giant pumpkin called Priscilla and watches Bill and his friend Evan build a huge pumpkin catapult. Lucy isn't crazy about her husband's friend Evan, who has bad hygiene and dirty clothes. Nevertheless, Evan is around all the time before Halloween, helping Bill, guzzling beer, and kibitzing around.



Meanwhile, a Tinker's Cove blueblood named Buck Miller - who's lived in Europe for most of his life - returns to town to become a partner in the family business.



The enterprise is is a retail establishment called Country Cousins, a multi-million dollar brick and mortar (and online) business that sells everything you'd need to live in Tinker's Cove in the early 1900s, including clothes, shoes, food, books, pots and pans, etc.



The book has flashbacks - going back a couple of decades - to a wife who's almost always locked in the apartment above Country Cousins. The woman cooks and cleans during the day, and the nights.....she doesn't want to think about them. This segues to Lucy's teenage daughter Sara, who's helping with the Take Back the Night Rally, a yearly demonstration that protests violence against women and supports women's rights.



Before the Giant Pumpkin Fest begins, it appears someone is trying to sabotage the event. The town carries on, however, and Lucy and her family arrive bright and early on opening day. Soon afterwards, a body is discovered and Lucy feels compelled to investigate. As the reporter probes, secrets are revealed - including the existence of a historic 'underground railroad' for abused women.



The mystery part of the book is engaging and I enjoyed the Halloween/Autumn ambiance of Tinker's Cove, with the fun activities and seasonal food (pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin muffins, monster ice cream, and more).



I'd recommend the novel to readers who like atmospheric cozies.

Rating: 3.5 stars