The Twelve Dogs of Christmas
Andy Carpenter #15
by David Rosenfelt

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Mystery

When Martha “Pups” Boyer, long-time dog rescuer, is accused of murdering a man she threatened after he complained about her dogs, Andy Carpenter takes her case. Even as he pulls on threads and begins to find the truth behind who really killed Pups’ neighbor, he can’t put his finger on what motive the murderer would have. But that won’t stop him from digging.

This book sort of fell into my lap when I was looking for more Christmas reads. I haven’t read any of this series before, but saw someone say that wouldn’t be a problem, and it really wasn’t. It also wasn’t exactly a Christmas story—it just happened to take place at Christmas time. All of that being said, I really liked the book. It felt a lot like an old detective show, like the kind I watched when I was younger—Matlock springs to mind. I enjoyed the main character’s wit and snark and the colorful cast he gathers around himself to help him do his work, both long-term and short-term. The way the case unfolded made for a good story, and even the courtroom scenes, where we get to see into the mind of the defense attorney using his tricks to get the jury to see things a certain way, were interesting.

Though I’m sure that some of what was shown in this book is a spoiler for past books in the series, and while author pushes dog love way too much for my taste (I’m a cat person through and through), I do believe I’ve found myself a new series to read after plunging in at book 15.

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