Good Dog, Bad Cop: A K Team Novel

by David Rosenfelt

The K Team enjoys investigating cold cases for the Paterson Police Department. Corey Douglas, his K-9 partner Simon Garfunkel, Laurie Collins, and Marcus Clark even get to choose which cases they'd like to pursue. When Corey sees the latest list of possibilities, there's no question which one to look into next.

Corey's former mentor, Jimmy Dietrich, had his whole identity wrapped up in being a cop. When Jimmy retired a few years ago, his marriage quickly deteriorated and he tried-and failed-to get back on the force. Jimmy was left to try to adjust to life as a civilian.

Not long after, two bodies were found in a boat floating near the Long Island Sound. A local woman, Susan Avery--whose detective husband, Danny, had recently been murdered--and Jimmy Dietrich. With no true evidence available, the deaths went unsolved and the case was declared cold. This didn't stop the whispers about what happened on that boat: an affair gone wrong... a murder-suicide committed by Jimmy.

Corey never believed it. By looking into the three deaths, the K Team has the opportunity to find the people actually responsible and clear Jimmy's name. Bestselling author David Rosenfelt returns in Good Dog, Bad Cop, where there's little to go on, but that won't stop Paterson, New Jersey's favorite private investigators from sniffing out the truth.

• ISBN10: 1250828961
• ISBN13: 9781250828965
• Publish Date: 14 March 2023
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

Good Dog, Bad Cop is the 4th K-Team PI procedural by David Rosenfelt. Due out 14th March 2023 from Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 288 pages and will be 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 throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately; it makes it so easy to find information with the search function. 

This is a spinoff series from the Andy Carpenter mysteries featuring Simon Garfunkel, the retired K-9 police dog and his handler companion Corey, and with content featuring Laurie, Marcus, Sam, and everyone's favorite "lazy" sarcastic attorney, Andy Carpenter. 

The characters are so well rendered now, and over such a long period of time, that they live and breathe. I love the lightly sarcastic humor and I can never get enough of them (including the canines, maybe *especially* the canines), so the fact that the books have gotten ever so slightly formulaic seems like a feature to me personally and not a bug. I love the books; I will keep buying and reviewing them as long as he keeps writing them. I found Corey's character/attitude and much of the formula of this novel very similar to the novels featuring Andy. For readers who are fans, that will be a big plus. The climax, denouement, and resolution are quite satisfying and self contained in this volume.

Corey and the K-Team are investigating a series of possibly related cold-case murders in New Jersey. It's not long before they're looking at organized crime, potentially dirty cops, corruption, and seriously bad guys in highest echelons of society. There are descriptions of domestic violence and a moderately graphic murder by firearm which could conceivably be upsetting to some readers. The language is fairly clean (PG-rated) and the writing is, as always, light, fun, and more than competent.

The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 6 hours 3 minutes and is capably narrated by series narrator Fred Berman. His voice has a gravelly quality and he does an extremely convincing New Jersey accent (no idea if it's authentic, it certainly *sounds* authentic). He does a very good job of delineating the individual characters' voices, both sexes and a range of ages. Sound and production quality are high throughout the recording. 

Four stars for the print version; four and a half for the audiobook. With 4 books extant in the series, it would make a good choice for a series read or buddy binge read.

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