Summary
In this Christmas mystery, lawyer Andy Carpenter and his golden retriever, Tara, are on the beat after a body turns up in the snow and a journalist is the prime suspect.Christmas has come early to the town of Paterson, New Jersey, in the form of a snowstorm that dumps two feet of snow on the ground. Lawyer Andy Carpenter likes snow - white Christmas and all that - but it can cause problems for the walks he takes his dogs on every day. When Andy's golden retriever, Tara, goes to play in the snow and instead discovers a body, Andy ends up on the phone with the local newspaper editor. The murder victim is Mayor Alex Oliva, who had an infamous relationship with the newspaper. Last year a young reporter published an expose, and Oliva had him fired for libel. Now, the young reporter - and prime suspect - is in need of a lawyer. Andy agrees to take the case, though it's not looking good this holiday season. The evidence is piling up faster than the snow in Best in Snow, the next Christmas mystery in the bestselling Andy Carpenter series from David Rosenfelt.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review:
"Andy Carpenter--work-hating defense attorney, video-game lover, wisecrack addict, sports fan, and well-known dogophile--is back. But here, in his twenty-fourth appearance in author Rosenfelt's popular series, Andy's spontaneous self is surprisingly subdued. Procedural elements, like working the phones and scowling at a computer screen, take the foreground, and that's both a blessing and a problem. It's Christmastime, and Andy is walking his pup when he comes across a snow-covered body. A suspect is quickly identified and arrested, but the details don't add up. Did the accused, zonked to the hairline on booze and fentanyl, really dispatch his victim and lug the corpse on a three-block trip? Along the way to Andy answering that question, Rosenfelt falls prey to some overpeopled and overcomplex prose, the sort of thing book doctors diagnose as "the muddle in the middle." Still, readers staying the course will be rewarded with a zinger of a courtroom scene. And there's enough of the old waggish Andy to keep his fans eager for more."
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review:
"Edgar finalist Rosenfelt's jaunty 24th Andy Carpenter mystery (after Dog Eat Dog) opens on a snowy November night in Paterson, N.J. Semiretired defense attorney Andy is walking his dogs in the park when Tara, "the greatest golden retriever the world has ever known," discovers a hand protruding through the snow. It turns out to be connected to the body of Paterson's mayor, Alex Oliva. The police are quick to arrest journalist Bobby Nash, who had written a negative story about Oliva, which turned out to be false and cost Bobby his job. Vince Sanders, the editor of the local paper and a longtime buddy of Andy's, refuses to believe his former employee capable of murder and begs Andy to defend him. Soon homicides and attempted homicides are "popping up all over." In the end, Andy must put his life in peril to draw out the bad guys. Rosenfelt matches crisp action scenes with wry dialogue, and he pithily conveys his characters' shared histories. Newcomers as well as established fans will enjoy this installment. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (Oct.)"
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