For once lawyer Andy Carpenter is eager to take on a case, even over Christmas, since it involves dogs. Twelve puppies plus their mothe to be exact. In David Rosenfelt's latest addition to this great mystery series, The Twelve Dogs of Christmas (#623), "Pups" Boyer, an long-time acquintance of Andy's has a complaint lodged against her by a neighbor. Pups is famous throughout the community for taking in puppies and fostering them until they are old enough to be adopted out to good homes. Of course Andy Carpenter and Willie Miller, his partner at the Tara Foundation, have known and suppported her work for many years. Why the sudden complaint, the first of its kind?
When that same neighbor is found murdered shortly afterwards, it slowly becomes clear to Andy that Pups is being set up to take the fall for this murder, as well as two additional killings eighteen months ago when the gun that killed all three victims is found in Pups' basement. Who is pulling the strings here, and what could they possibly hope to gain from it?
It's Rosenfelt's usual carefully constructed plot full of more questions than Andy has time or inclination to answer, yet despite himself, he always manages in his usual clever and snarky way to get where he needs to go for justice to be served. Oh, and this time his family life takes a positive step forward when his adopted son Ricky wants to know for a school project why they all don't have the same last name. It's fun to watch Andy squirm over this one until of course, he does the right thing.
This book kept me happily occupied over the Christmas holiday, but it doesn't need to be Christmas to enjoy this one! Unfailingly fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment