Dog Eat Dog: An Andy Carpenter Mystery (Andy Carpenter, #23)

by David Rosenfelt

Retired lawyer Andy Carpenter and his wife, Laurie, enjoy walking their dogs, Tara, a golden retriever, and Sebastian, a basset hound. When out for one of their strolls one summer weekend, their usual routine is interrupted when they spot a man down the street, mistreating his pug. Andy and Laurie hurry over to intervene, but before they can do anything, another passerby gets there first. He beats the dog owner so thoroughly that both are arrested when the cops arrive.

Before the guy gets taken away, he makes Andy and Laurie promise to look after the dog, which is an easy promise to make, since Andy is the founder of a dog rescue organization. At the police station, the passerby is identified as Matthew Jantzen, who turns out to be wanted for murder. Andy is struck by the fact that Jantzen, a man supposedly on the run, would nevertheless intervene to help a dog, and even though Andy is never keen to take on a new case, he can't say no to someone who is clearly as much of a dog lover as he is.

Dog Eat Dog, the twenty-second installment in the Andy Carpenter series, features the charming cast of characters - old and new - that David Rosenfelt is known for, as well as the dogs that accompany them.

• ISBN10: 1250257123
• ISBN13: 9781250257123
• Publish Date: 6 July 2021
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 4 November 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Dog Eat Dog is the 23rd Andy Carpenter legal procedural mystery by David Rosenfelt. Released 6th July 2021 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This series is such a fun and reliable read. It's an ensemble cast featuring criminal defense lawyer Andy, his wife (a former detective), and the supporting ensemble of investigators, other lawyers, canines, and an office manager (who is allergic to work), who drive the action. I am really fond of this series. It's always very well written, clean, full of interesting legal trivia (in the USA) and procedural minutiae (in a good way).

Andy's relationship with his friends and colleagues is often sarcastic; he's a wisecracking smart-alec. Behind the rapid fire dialogue and repartee though, he's well loved by his family and friends and it's reciprocated. He's a mensch and I really like him. Despite his claims of retirement and work-avoidance, he can't resist an underdog, either canine or human. There is no sexual content apart from some very light double entendre on Andy's part (aimed at his wife). The denouement and resolution are satisfying and good to read.

This entry works well enough as a standalone, all the background info is written in and the author provides the necessary backstory without burying the reader in huge info dumps. I've enjoyed this series so much though that I recommend picking up the books and reading them all (order doesn't matter much).

Four and a half stars. This is a super fun and positive and very well written light legal procedural with dogs. This series is one of the few I recommend without any reservations to all of my mystery reading friends.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.