I don't consider myself an animal fanatic by any means, but there's just something something better about David Rosenfelt's mysteries when his dog Tara is involved...even in just a small way. Perhaps it is because Tara is a golden retriever and of course I'm partial to that breed, owning one myself. David Rosenfelt actually owns 27 of them and has a foundation with his wife that has rescued almost 4,000 animals and found them good, loving homes. You just have to love an author with that kind of heart. With the hurricane predicted last weekend, I thought it was the perfect time to curl up with a good mystery and Rosenfelt's One Dog Night did not disappoint.
With the wind howling outside, I was engaged in lawyer Andy Carpenter's latest case involving Noah Carpenter, a man accused of setting fire to a building with 26 people inside. All the evidence seemed to point to Noah and it seemed like it was a slam-dunk case for the prosecution. Andy was reluctant to get involved until he discovers that Noah was the previous owner of his dog Tara and loves Andy's dog as much as he does. Andy begins to think that perhaps there is more to the case and from there the story is filled with lots of twists and turns and keeps the reader in suspense right to the end. I love the humor of Andy, the New Jersey setting, and of course the golden retriever.
I have only read two other of Rosenfelt's series with Andy Carpenter and so I can't really say how this compares to the many books he's written with this character. But I did read Down to the Wire, a thriller of his that was a stand alone book and it was a major disappointment. Too far fetched to be believable and half way through the book I was ready to put it down. But happily Rosenfelt is back to writing what he knows as a native of Patterson, NJ himself.