Silent Bite

August 10, 2020
Edgar finalist Rosenfelt’s entertaining 22nd mystery featuring semiretired defense attorney Andy Carpenter (after Muzzled) finds Andy and his family returning home to Paterson, N.J., after a Caribbean cruise, which he didn’t particularly enjoy, when he gets a call from Willie Miller, his friend and partner in the Tara Foundation, a dog-rescue operation. Willie wants Andy to defend Tony Birch, who was paroled from prison three years earlier following a manslaughter conviction. Tony has since been on the straight and narrow, recently taking over the shop where he worked as a mechanic after the owner retired. Now evidence is stacking up against Tony for the murder of a former associate of his who testified against him at his manslaughter trial. The fatal shooting of another former associate of Tony’s raises the ante. Andy steps into the courtroom to defend his client with the sublime self-assurance of Perry Mason. Loads of dog lore and Andy’s gripes about things that get under his skin add to the fun. This long-running series remains as fresh as ever. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House.

August 15, 2020
Andy Carpenter celebrates Christmas by defending a guy accused of killing two guys whose testimony once helped convict Andy's client of manslaughter. Six years ago, Anthony Birch decked Melvin "G-Bop" Garza, a Blood Dragon gangster who took a swing at him in a bar fight, and Melvin went down for the count. Tony had expected Frankie Zimmer and Raymond Hackett, his own gangbangers in the Fulton Street Boyz, to have his back, but they both testified against him, and he did three years. Emerging from prison, he got a job as a car mechanic and ended up buying the shop from its retiring owner. All would be well if only Frankie Zimmer hadn't been shot with a gun buried in Tony's backyard, wrapped in a handkerchief with Tony's DNA. Worse still, a bunch of dogwalkers soon find the body of Raymond Hackett, also shot in the back of the head by the same gun. The case, as usual for Andy, looks impossible unless he can persuade the jury to look past the evidence prosecutor Stan Godfrey is methodically laying out and get them to buy the alternative theory that Tony's been framed for a pair of murders that are actually linked to Luther Roman, the Blood Dragons' badass leader. With indomitable investigator Marcus Clark handling the spadework, Andy's confident he can go up against the fearsome Luther. But can he produce enough evidence to exonerate his client before every other possible suspect has been murdered? Though there's precious little Yuletide cheer, Rosenfelt springs a climactic surprise worthy of Santa.

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October 1, 2020
Rosenfelt has written nearly two dozen novels starring laconic lawyer Andy Carpenter, and if we've seen this plot and these characters before, it won't deter the author's fans. He begins with a short, violent chapter: a misanthropic radio personality is shot. Then we accompany Andy and his wife, Laurie, to pick up their pooch. The kennel master gives Andy what he dreads most: a job. Two ex-gang members have been killed, and a man who is clearly innocent has been charged. Will Andy defend him? We know the answer. What follows is a trip into the gang world, which Rosenfelt handles in a low-key, realistic manner. The world is haunted by a mastermind named Luther, who turns out, when we meet him, to be something of a paper tiger. The matter goes to trial, and the reason for the radio guy's and the gang members' murders is revealed in a whodunit manner that won't surprise anyone who's been paying attention. But it's sarcastic Andy, not the plot, who is the real lure here. We love him because he isn't afraid to stall the action for a disquisition on M&M's.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)