DOG DAY AFTERNOON

5 stars out of 5

Retired attorney Andy Carpenter insists he wants to stay that way, but somehow he keeps getting pulled back into court. This time, his trusted but somewhat reclusive investigator, Marcus Clark, asks for a favor - the only time in their long association that's happened. It seems that one of the young men Marcus has helped get on the straight and narrow - Nick Williams - has been identified as a mass murderer after six employees were brutally shot at the law firm where he's been working.

When Marcus gets a call from Nick, who's been missing, to say he was kidnapped on the day of the murders and spent several days tied up in some kind of warehouse before his kidnappers inexplicably set him free. Marcus then calls Andy, who really doesn't want any part of the case, but he can't say no to Marcus. Reluctantly, Andy gathers his super-competent team around him, including Marcus and Andy's ex-cop wife, Laurie Collins - and they begin to plot their strategy despite misgivings that include a couple of witnesses who are for the most part convinced that the man with the gun they saw was, in fact, Nick.

As usual, the story is narrated by Andy, who enjoys talking to his own dogs while taking them for walks. He's an extremely personable guy with a sense of humor and a penchant for acting up in the courtroomwith both adding a bit of fun to each adventure (and eliciting an occasional giggle from me). Since the motive attributed to Nick seems thin - and both he and Marcus are so insistent that Nick wasn't involved in any way - the team begins to look for another reason for the murders. As clues turn up, Andy shares them with readers (and I'll leave those reveals up to him, thank you very much) right up to the somewhat surprising conclusion. 

Speaking of thank you very much, all that's left for me to say is that - to the publisher, via NetGalley - for giving me the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy of another installment in a favorite series. Well done, as always!

Dog Day Afternoon by David Rosenfelt (Minotaur Books, July 2024); 298 pp.