New Jersey defense attorney Andy Carpenter has a soft spot for strays both his clients and the dogs who end up at his rescue organization. In his seventeenth outing, however, he's not as sympathetic to his client as is usually the case. That's probably because Dave Kramer is his wife's handsome, still-single ex-boyfriend. Dave is accused of killing the truck driver who had been hauling 70 dogs from overcrowded shelters in the south to the northeast to find new homes. Kramer had been arguing with the driver but claims to be innocent of the crime. Curiously, there are fingerprints in the truck belonging to a man wanted by the FBI. So irreverent Andy finds himself in the middle of a case of international intrigue. The dogs in this realistic series aren't anthropomorphized crime solvers, but they can be very cuddly, and they always show the reader that, for all his wisecracking, Andy has a heart of gold. Series fans will welcome this latest installment, and those unfamiliar with Andy and his crew will be delighted to have so much catching up to do.--Keefe, Karen Copyright 2010 Booklist

In Edgar-finalist Rosenfelt's cleverly plotted 17th mystery featuring Paterson, N.J., defense lawyer and dog rescuer Andy Carpenter (after 2017's Collared), Andy gets a call about 61 dogs found in a tractor trailer parked at a rest stop on the Garden State Parkway. Andy later learns that the trailer's driver, Kenny Zimmer, has been shot and that the shooter is his wife Laurie's ex-boyfriend, former cop and sometime PI Dave Kramer. Kramer admits to the fatal shooting, but claims he acted in self-defense after Zimmer attacked him with a knife. Andy reluctantly agrees to defend Kramer, but it won't be easy, especially when a knife isn't found at the crime scene. It looks like a setup or maybe a hit gone wrong, and Andy's digging soon puts him in the crosshairs of some very bad people. Andy is an affable, funny narrator, and his Nick and Nora-like banter with Laurie, a highly capable ex-cop, leavens the dark deeds they uncover. Series fans and newcomers alike will have fun. Author tour. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Paterson's laziest lawyer is dragged back into the courtroom for a 17th time in his most reluctant role yet: as defender of his wife's ex-boyfriend.The police arrest Dave Kramer for the best of all possible reasons: He confesses to killing Kenny Zimmer. Two years earlier, well after he'd broken up with Laurie Collins, Kramer, an ex-cop-turned-private eye, had beaten up Zimmer, who admitted to assaulting the 15-year-old daughter of Kramer's client but had laughed off Kramer's attempts to find evidence against him. The police declined to press charges; Kramer lost his license; and bad blood continued until the day Kramer says Zimmer asked him to meet at a rest stop to discuss their ongoing issues, invited him inside the truck he arrived in, and pulled a knife on him, provoking Kramer to shoot him in self-defense. Unfortunately for Kramer, the police can find no trace of either a knife or the third party Kramer insists must have removed it from the truck. Fortunately for Kramer, dog-loving attorney Andy Carpenter (Collared, 2017, etc.) has already spent several hours at the scene because he agreed to take in the 61 rescue dogs Zimmer was transporting north in the truck. Will Andy oblige Laurie by agreeing to defend the former boyfriend who dumped her? If you know the answer to that question, you won't be very mystified by the murder either, especially since Rosenfelt obligingly keeps cutting away to a series of dark vignettes showing a quartet of rogue government operatives plotting something big and nefarious in New Jersey's heartland that's somehow connected to the mass exodus of rescued dogs.Rosenfelt, like Dick Francis, keeps coming up with inventive ways to ensnare his hero in cases involving animals. But this time, the mystery, fueled by his persistent fondness for implausible government intrigue, is thin, and the hero, presumably because he's defending his beloved wife's ex, is less funny than usual. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.