Sunday 9 January 2022

Book ~ "Best in Show" (2021) David Rosenfelt

From Goodreads ~ In this Christmas mystery, lawyer Andy Carpenter and his golden retriever, Tara, are on the beat after a body turns up in the snow and a journalist is the prime suspect.

Christmas has come early to the town of Paterson, New Jersey, in the form of a snowstorm that dumps two feet of snow on the ground. Lawyer Andy Carpenter likes snow – white Christmas and all that – but it can cause problems for the walks he takes his dogs on every day.

When Andy’s golden retriever, Tara, goes to play in the snow and instead discovers a body, Andy ends up on the phone with the local newspaper editor. The murder victim is Mayor Alex Oliva, who had an infamous relationship with the newspaper. Last year a young reporter published an expose, and Oliva had him fired for libel. Now, the young reporter – and prime suspect – is in need of a lawyer.

Andy agrees to take the case, though it’s not looking good this holiday season. The evidence is piling up faster than the snow in "Best in Snow", the next Christmas mystery in the bestselling Andy Carpenter series from David Rosenfelt. 

Andy is a criminal defense lawyer who doesn't want any clients.  Because of the money his father left him and some lucrative cases, he is able to not work and spend his time with his friend, Willie, running the Tara Foundation, a dog rescue that he and Willie formed.  He is married to Laurie, they have a young son, Ricky, and he is enjoying his life.

One evening when Andy was walking their three dogs in a local park, one starts digging in the snow and Andy discovers a body.  It turns out it is the mayor.  Recently Bobby, a reporter, had written a story about the mayor, which turned out to be false and he was fired from the newspaper.  It appears that Bobby wanted revenge and murdered the mayor.  Things don't look good for Bobby, especially since he was found unconscious nearby in his car and the mayor's blood was found in the trunk.  Vince, Bobby's former boss, is a friend of Andy's and asks him to take the case.  Despite not wanting to ever take on another case, he does.

This is the 24th in the Andy Carpenter series (I've read them all) and I have been liking this series.  Even though it is part of a series, it works as a stand alone (so you don't need to have read the ones before it to know what is going on).  I like the writing style as it was funny, sarcastic and amusing.  It was written mostly in first person perspective in Andy's voice.  There were a lot of characters, though, and I had a hard time sometimes keeping them straight.

I like Andy ... I think he would be a hoot to be around and he's quite generous with his time and money (he never charges for his services).  Part of Andy's team is the K-Team (Laurie, a former police officer and now an investigator; Marcus, an investigator with "persuasive" reasoning skills; Cory, a former police officer; and Simon Garfunkel, Cory's former canine partner).  Sam is his accountant who is also a computer hack who wants to be part of the action.

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