Dead men don't play fetch / David Rosenfelt.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Bestselling author David Rosenfelt returns with Dead Men Don't Play Fetch as Andy Carpenter investigates a wealthy dog lover's unusual death.

It's defense lawyer Andy Carpenter's dream to retire. That goal is once again thwarted when he gets a call from Lou Campanelli, an old friend who he simply cannot refuse, asking for a favor. Lou runs a rehab center, and when one of his patients, a homeless veteran, is charged with first degree murder, he needs Andy's help. And of course, Andy will also be called on to care for the accused's dog, but that's okay: What's one more dog?

The man that Jason Maddox is accused of stabbing to death is none other than billionaire Paul Vincent, an eccentric businessman and inventor. Bickert dedicated a great portion of his life to philanthropy, with a soft spot for dog-related causes. This led him to befriend Jason, a physicist and war hero, whose life fell apart to the point where he ended up on the streets with his dog, just trying to survive.

But why would Jason possibly have wanted to kill him? Well, for one thing, he was to receive a fortune in Vincent's will. That, coupled with the fact that Jason was at the scene, his fingerprints were on the knife, and Vincent's wallet was in his jacket, made it a slam dunk arrest.

Once again, Andy is enmeshed in a puzzling, twisty case. But in order to reunite a man and his dog, Andy will have to untangle it all.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Billionaire inventor Paul Vincent is found dead outside a New Jersey rehab center. Cops arrest his friend Jason Maddox (a homeless veteran who's down on his luck) on the spot with scant circumstantial evidence. His jailhouse call is to Andy Carpenter, lawyer extraordinaire, who unleashes his team at a blinding pace to find Paul's killer and free Jason. Paul was brilliant, litigious, stubborn, and philanthropic. He had many enemies, and suspects abound. The search leads through a labyrinth of drug-dealing, money-laundering, insider trading, and the hoarding of a patent that could change the course of drug rehabilitation. It's the perfect case for Andy, who navigates with ease through both organized crime and judges' chambers to find the truth and free his client. VERDICT Readers need not begin at book one of Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter series to enjoy the latest installment (after And to All a Good Bite), with its snappy dialog and satisfyingly convoluted legal plotline; Andy Carpenter is an easy protagonist to get addicted to. To his legions of fans and dog lovers, this is catnip--er, dog treats!--Susan Clifford Braun

Booklist Review

"I'm your worst nightmare," defense attorney Andy Carpenter says, introducing himself to a bad guy. Then he thoughtfully explains himself to readers: he loved that line, taken from a Rambo movie, and uses it whenever he gets the chance. He is, of course, a first-rate courtroom performer in a genre bursting with them, and readers may suspect author Rosenfelt is spinning memes to separate Andy from the pack. That's why Andy doesn't stop with Rambo but goes on to describe himself as a wimp and a coward. His wife needles him for his immaturity. He's forever picking up the tab for a table of freeloaders who are forever mocking him. Turning the page to begin the last third of the novel is like being delightfully surprised by a brisk, cool breeze. Here's Andy, lion among lawyers, building a case to get this poor chump off the hook. Just because said chump was found standing over a blood-drenched corpse, soaked with the dead man's blood, doesn't mean he's guilty . . . does it?

Kirkus Book Review

Andy Carpenter, the most reluctant lawyer in Paterson, New Jersey, gets backed into yet another case. Soon after Jason Maddox notifies the police that he's found the body of Paul Vincent in an alley behind the rehab center A Day at a Time, they return the favor by arresting him for murder. Plenty of people might well have had reason to stab the billionaire inventor, who's best described as a highly litigious philanthropist, but none of the others described him as a close friend who'd promised to put him in charge of a chain of animal rescue facilities. More to the point, none of them had his blood on their clothes or left their fingerprints on the murder weapon or had his wallet, containing $2,000, in a jacket pocket. Fortunately, Jason has a Lab mix, Hope, whom Andy is eager to rescue from animal control, so it doesn't take much more to push him into the counselor's seat. He quickly links Vincent to Matthew Bender, who was his partner in the startup BioCore Dynamics before Vincent left over an argument, and links Vincent's stepson, Ethan Davenport, to a crew of lowlifes who supplied him with drugs when they weren't busy laundering money or forcing their debtors into line. Since there's not enough evidence to mount an affirmative defense against the state's case, Andy sticks to offering three alternative suspects: Edward Diablo, the enforcer for Ethan's imprisoned dealer; Frank Bianchi, a member of the Russo crime family who's gone independent; and Steven Weston, whose fender bender with Vincent sent him to prison, thirsting for revenge upon his release. So Andy's courtroom shenanigans are considerably more muted than usual. The same mixture as before, but maybe a little less so. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.