Great mystery in another wonderful Andy Carpener book. Rosenfelt weaves in the history of all of the main characters so easily into each book in the series. Not one boring page in his books....perfect escapism! ( )

It's always a pleasure to read one of the Andy Carpenter books, even though after reading 15 of them, it begins to get a little repetitive. But the plots are always interesting, and the humor is still good.

This one was fairly complex, and the ending was unusual and unexpected. And one of my favorite characters, Marcus, didn't really do as much as usual. But I enjoyed the book a lot, and it's a good escape from a lot of the heavier reads. ( )

The story was good, but the characters are pretty flat. ( )

abduction, wrongful-conviction, murder, murder-investigation, law-enforcement, lawyers, family-dynamics, friendship, framed, dogs, verbal-humor, situational-humor, snark-fest, suspense*****

Take a wisemouthed lawyer who can afford to take semi retirement by only representing innocent clients while supporting an animal shelter, add in that his wife is no longer law enforcement but works as his private investigator and more and you have the baseline for this convoluted mystery. There are many other people who help Andy find out what the truth really is and make it courtroom admissible. This one is more of a mess than usual and leaves a trail of bodies while Andy is trying to get a wrongful conviction overturned. Lots of twists and turns in the plot and the characters certainly are, but there's no need for spoilers or an attempt at a summary. I found it to be a real brain grabber and was surprised to find that it is the most recent in a series! At no time does the reader feel lost or as if missing background info.
Grover Gardner narrates this complicated snarkfest very well! ( )

This series is a lighter legal read than a legal thriller, more mystery but not quite a cozy. Regardless of that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Andy Carpenter is a reluctant defense lawyer, who was not even sure he wanted to renew his licence at the beginning of the book. His wife and partner in the dog rescue foundation convince him he should. When a border collie is left at the foundation with a cryptic note, the mystery begins. When the dog is checked for a micro-chip, they determine that it is the same dog that was stolen when a young adopted child was kidnapped, three years earlier. The ex-boyfriend of the adoptive mother was tried and sent to prison for the kidnapping and the child was never found. This tweaks Andy's curiosity. His wife Laurie had befriended Jill when the crime was committed as she lived in their neighbourhood. If Cody, the dog, is still alive, what about Dylan. Andy goes to the prison to question Keith and ends up believing in his innocence. Can Andy get a new trial for Keith? Will they find Baby Dylan? Who left Cody at the foundation?

The usual characters are back with a few new additions to flesh out the story. Andy is the heart of the eccentric cast & narrates. His interactions with other characters & sly internal observations provide a lot of humour. Laurie is the steadying influence for Andy and keeps him in line. She makes sure he is safe and honest as well as keeping him protecting using Marcus. Marcus who has skills like a one man army, scares everyone and keeps Marcus safe from harm, because Laurie asks him to. Sam, Hike and the rest of the team are there working in the background to help Andy investigate and prepare his case. Rosenfelt does a great job with pacing in this clever plot with enough humour to keep you smiling. Not only do you want to find out the answer to the mystery, but you want to keep reading to spend more time with the characters. This is a story with plenty of mystery, suspense, wit, skill, and detective work. A definite must read for those that like a legal mystery with a little less violence and darkness to it. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley. ( )