Best in Snow (Andy Carpenter #24). By David Rosenfelt, Narrator: Grover Gardner. 2021. Macmillan Audio (Audiobook ARC).

This is a great listen. The narrator infuses the right amount of humor and tension into the scenes and characters. Best in Snow is the first Andy Carpenter book for me, but Andy and a couple of other characters (and dogs) are in Rosenfelt’s K9 Team series, of which I’ve read/listened to a couple of. Overall, an entertaining story.

*Macmillan Audio ARC via NetGalley
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This book was light and airy. Not too heavy for the Holiday season but kept me wanting more throughout.
I will definitely continue with the author.

I have fallen in love with all of this authors books with the dogs in them. I not only review them but I have also bought them for my library and I have purchased some of them for donating to Christmas giving trees.

As usual with this series, I enjoyed the legal aspects and mystery... and dogs. My Rating 4.5.

Wealthy and want-to-be retired lawyer, Andy Carpenter, is out walking the dogs when his main dog, Tara, sniffs out a body under the snow. It turns out to be the local mayor and the police are quick to focus on a young reporter, Bobby Nash, who had reason to have a grudge. When they find blood in Bobby’s trunk, he is arrested for the murder. One of Andy’s drinking ‘buddies’, Vince, a newspaper editor and Bobby’s former boss, coerces Andy into taking on the defense representation.

Evidence builds against Bobby as his car and phone are placed at the scene and the mayor’s wife advises the police that Bobby made threatening phone calls a few days before the murder. Unfortunately, Bobby isn’t able to help much with the facts as he was in a car accident shortly after the murder and has no memory of the events. When a potential witness is killed, it seems to turn the search away from Bobby who was in the hospital. Until it is determined that the source of the second murder could have been set up before Bobby was arrested.

Still, Andy sees lots of holes in the evidence. He just needs more facts to lead the jury to a different conclusion – to reasonable doubt. Andy gathers his quirky crew of investigators, and they get busy searching out alternate suspects. Attempts to eliminate Bobby and Andy make it clear that there are other suspects to be found.

As usual in this fun series, the Carpenter Team is able to dig out good facts pointing to bad actors further afield. The necessary details don’t get to Andy until the eleventh hour and he and his client have to wait out the jury verdict.

I enjoy this series for its unique characters. Andy has a snarky personality but his crew dish right back at him. I also enjoy the legal proceedings, in preparation and presentation. The writing is concise and moves along at a good pace. I recommend this story to fans of legal procedure mysteries. Each book is a new murder or criminal event so they can be read as standalones. However, I do recommend reading the first several to get to know the characters… and that may lead to reading more in the series.

Audio Notes: Grover Gardner is the voice of Andy Carpenter and pulls me right into the story. I have read one or two of the books on Kindle and I still can hear Gardner’s voice. I have to smile as soon as I start listening. I love listening to this series.

Source: 9/9/2021 from NetGalley.

Thank you to @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the opportunity to review the audiobook of Best in Snow: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt.

Best in Snow is a legal thriller/mystery, which isn’t my typical genre but the description and cover intrigued me so I decided to give it a try. I don’t have any regrets! The story was engaging and kept me guessing for a while. Andy Carpenter was an interesting character and I really appreciated his sense of humor, especially during times of conflict. The audio version of this book allowed me to listen to it during my commute and I think that really helped the humorous parts stand out! I would recommend this book to fans of the genre and also those that are looking for a short seasonal mystery to enjoy during the chilly winter months.

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This was a quick read (listen if you're reading the audiobook). It's a fun mystery and the characters are pretty likeable. Also+, who doesn't love puppies....there are a lot in this book.

This book is a laugh-out-loud funny, feel good mystery. Not what you are expecting from a defense attorney’s POV murder mystery but most definitely entertaining and very well done after finishing this one I handed it right off to my husband who will no doubt enjoy it as well (he would never have picked it up - the cute dog on the cover would have been a deterrent but I am convinced he’ll be hooked once he opens it 😁). This was the first book in the Andy Carpenter series that I read and it is book #24 in the series but I had no problem getting to know the characters and enjoying their banter. I loved the lawyer’s musings as he is preparing for trial and his explanations for procedural decisions, his witness list and which questions to ask (or not) - it was very well done.
The book spans the time from Thanksgiving to early spring so seasonal but not Christmas centered - so it can definitely still be read.
The audio narration by Grover Gardner felt perfect for this book and setting I highly enjoyed listening.
Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillanAudio for providing me with the audio copy for this delightful book !

I received an audio copy of Best in Snow from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Best in Snow is the #24 in the Andy Carpenter series. I only read one other book of this series, but this can be read as a stand alone.

Best in Snow is a fun audio. It’s a light entertaining book perfect for the end of the year reading. It has a touch of Christmas with laugh out loud characters. The mystery is easy to solve. Set in New Jersey, it reminds me of my home for 30 years. 3 stars.

Best in Snow is a cosy mystery. This is the first of this long-running series that I listened to, and I think you can jump right in here without reading the many books that come before this one.

I couldn't resist the cover, and the narrator did a great job bringing the book to life. It's a fun book to read/listen to.

Best in Snow (Andy Carpenter #24)
David Rosenfelt
A snowstorm brought two feet of snow to Paterson, New Jersey. Retired defense attorney, Andy Carpenter was walking his three dogs, Sebastian a Basset Hound, Hunter a Pug and Tara a Golden Retriever when Tara was playing in the snow, she finds a body. Andy contacts his friend Pete, the captain of the Paterson Police Department. As soon as police and forensics determine the murder victim is Mayor Alex Oliva, they arrest Bobby Nash. About a year ago Bobby, a young reporter published an expose about the mayor. The mayor had him fired for libel. All evidence of the mayor’s death points to Bobby.
The Vince Sanders, the editor of the paper and Bobby’s mentor knows Bobby is innocent and begs Andy to represent the young journalist. Andy agrees. Bobby is arrested in the hospital due to an automobile accident in which he was seriously injured. Bobby confides in Andy that he can’t remember anything about the night of the accident. He also tells Andy that he believes he was set up concerning the article he wrote about the mayor. After the death of the woman that gave Bobby the evidence he used to write the article is blown up, Bobby is charged with her murder.
Andy calls in the reinforcements for assistance: Eddie Dowd, a lawyer former football player that uses football cliches, the bubbeleh brigade, a group of elderly Jewish computer hackers, Corey Douglas and ex-cop, Corey’s K-9 partner Simon Garfunkel, and Andy’s wife and ex-cop, Laurie. Vince isn’t fond of dogs but agrees to take in Bobby’s Golden Retrieve puppy, Duchess, during the trial.
Andy’s life is in danger when he and his team uncover a conspiracy.
This is the first Andy Carpenter mystery I have listened/read. The cast of characters are fascinating; the secondary characters add depth to this Cozy Mystery. The humor in this tale had me laughing out loud. The lawyers ragged each other through out the trial. Andy is a mastermind lawyer, hangs out with his friends at a sports bar, and runs a canine rescue organization.

The story itself was a good story although, it really didn't have much to do with the holiday season or snow. It did take place during a time period which involved the holidays and snow. I still don't get how the title correlates to the story. Now on to the narrator, I did not care for the narrator's voice. I ended up listening in 1.25 speed because his voice was so monotone it needed to be sped up. It still didn't help much. I haven't ever read or listened to any David Rosenfelt books before and was so looking forward to listening to this one. I will say I was disappointed. I will give reading one of his books another try but don't think I'd like to listen to another one especially if the narrator is the same person.

Best in Snow
David Rosenfelt

Rosenfelt’s 24th Andy Carpenter and annual holiday mystery, Best In Snow is fantastic, as he ho ho ho’s he shows off Andy’s dry sense of humor and showcases his super investigative team, including his over-the-top Christmas loving wife, his son and his friends frenemies who help with the case as well. The narrative is full of perfectly placed humor and just enough intrigue to give his audience the chills and bringing in the mob makes it the perfect Christmas conundrum. Fans of this series and lovers of bit more than cozy mysteries will find this hard to put down. This reads well as a stand- a-lone but as in all series it’s best read in order.
Narration: As Always Grover Gardner does a bang up job, he’s the perfect Andy and does a really good job of all the other characters too.
Just before Christmas semi-retired defense lawyer Andy Carpenter gets an unwanted gift when his golden retriever, Tara digs up a dead body under a layer of snow. The body turns out to be Patterson New Jersey’s mayor and the gifts just keep coming when his buddy the newspaper editor asks him to defend the suspect, who just happens to be one of the newspaper’s ex-employees that the police just arrested. There are a lot of motives, but the clues just don’t add up and there may be MOB involvement too which convinces Andy his client is innocent. But believing and proving are not the same thing and with the mob connection Andy’s got to keep everyone safe too.

David Rosenfelt's, Andy Carpenter series is so fun. The series contains 26 books so far and this is book 24. I have read them all 24 and continuing.
Andy Carpenter is a defense lawyer that defends obvious innocent characters. He has a wife that was a police chief. She protects him throughout the books because Andy is basically a coward. Marcus, works with Laurie. He is an intimidating bodyguard that lurks in the shadows and appears in the nic of time to save the day. Marcus mostly just grunts and no one can understand him but Laurie. But you will love him. He's a man of steel.
Andy also has 3 close friends, Pete, police chief, Vince, newspaper editor and Sam, his accountant and hacker. These 5 are recurring characters in each book. And then there is Tara, the golden retriever. (She must be 20 years old by now since she appeared as and adult in his first book in 2002) Andy loves dogs and you will hear a lot about Tara and others mixed into the mystery.
Mystery, yes these books are mysteries. They all follow a pattern. Someone convinces Andy to take their case. Andy reluctantly takes the case. Andy really doesn't like to work but he's an excellent attorney and once he gets started, he's all in...with the help of his friends mentioned above.
The mystery is figuring out who really did commit the crime. This is always unfolded little by little and you never know until the end who dun it.
This book of course filled that pattern. My only negative with this one is there seemed to be too many bad guys...too many characters to follow. I had some difficulty with that.
Also if you enjoy audiobooks you will love the narration. It is the same narrator, Grover Gardner, throughout the series. The book is basically first person through Andy's point of view and the narrator does a great job as the voice of Andy. Very clever dialog, very funny and very clever.
I highly recommend this series. Once you get started you will read them all.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Great cozy mystery, without being inundated with recipes and cats! :) Though I loved the dog and Christmas angle, these don't feature very hugely in the mystery. What I loved about the book (I'm new to this obviously long-running series) was that the narrator (character voice and the audiobook's narrator) is super funny and witty. Love the relationships between him and his detective friend/poker buddy and others he interacts with to get the PI business done. Also, I really admire how the book was put together without a ton of backstory to fill in readers about the previous books. Smart readers really don't need tons of rehashing, and this author and probably editor got it right. I could read between the lines and figure there's a history there in setting up the save-a-stray-dog foundation and probably about the main character's marriage and dating history with his current wife. But I didn't need to go there, and this book doesn't. It's a fun and funny light-hearted mystery, one that you feel you can possibly solve before all is said and done, but not too early in the game. I liked the courtroom part as well, has the feel of the old Perry Mason stories, where you have the investigation and part of the courtroom. You get the sense the author really knows his stuff--good insight into a defense attorney's inner workings and decision making. I also like how he doesn't go in blindly to stuff and has backup. Refreshing change from a continually bumbling detective character common in other cozies who never seem to learn from their mistakes (or surprisingly don't die from them). Fun, fast read! Will be recommending this series, and going back to read it from the start myself.

Andy Carpenter is an attorney who apparently is rich enough that he doesn't need to work. But he does so anyway, and employs a worthless office manager who does not work. There are also a lot of supporting characters who help with investigations; the Jewish senior squad was particularly interesting, if not a bit stereotypical. But, overall I found the main character to be a bit too much of a smart aleck--always making wise cracks and insulting his good friends (on the guise that this is what they do). It was a bit tiring. The story line relates to a young reporter who is implicated in the murder of a mayor and his assistant. The real murderer was pretty obvious from the start, and a few obvious clues are not mentioned. The time frame between the murder and the trial also seems unrealistic--a matter of a few weeks, rather than the months (or longer) that are more typical. I persisted through the book, but really didn't find it to be very special. In fact, the main character was quite annoying at times.

Best in Snow is the first Andy Carpenter mystery I’ve picked up. I couldn’t resist the adorable cover and Grover Gardner as narrator. It worked fine as a stand-alone for me, although I’m sure I would have known more about Andy and the other recurring characters had I read the series from the beginning. At 24 books, that’s not going to happen.

This time around, Andy finds a dead body while walking his dogs. A former reporter for Andy Carpenter is an almost retired defense attorney with more than enough money, so he can pick and choose his clients- unless his friend and newspaper editor asks him to help out a former reporter charged with the mayor’s murder. Then he doesn’t get much of a choice.

Andy is clever and sarcastic and downright funny, all of which Gardner pulls off perfectly. The dialogue is entertaining and the dogs are all adorable. The plot was well-done, plenty of twists and turns, another body, enough clues if you can put them together.

I don’t read legal mysteries very often and I’m not sure why. I usually enjoy them. We’ve got the drama in the courtroom of whether Andy will be able to convince the jury of his client’s innocence. We’ve got peeks into the official investigation provided by the prosecution and Andy’s friends on the force. But of course Andy and his team are the ones that figure out what’s going on. Crooked politicians, organized crime, football and food, Best in Snow has a bit of everything. I’ll probably go back and listen to a few more in the series.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the audio version. Great little detective story. The narrator did a great job. I wish we had more male narrator's! Highly recommend for people who love murder mysteries.

Rosenfelt knows how to keep an audience entertained. His lawyer Andy Carpenter, reminds me of Jack Lemon in Grumpy Old Men. He wants to be left alone and semi-retire. He wants to play with his dogs, and not get involved. But when his beloved dog finds a body in the snow, he is pulled back into a case that is about political sabotage, murder, and explosions. This was a fun holiday listen. I love that even thought this is book 24 in the series, you can pick it up as a newbie and not feel left out. This book would probably be considered an edgy cozy mystery. It’s more than cozy, but not full blown Grisham or Sandford, making it an appropriate audiobook for all audiences on long holiday drives.

Getting this was a mistake on my part. I did not want the audio book. I do not read them. Hence, the mistake I made.

I discovered Rosenfelt's series through Netgalley--this is the second one I've read and I loved it. His sarcasm and sense of humor make the books highly entertaining. I recommended the series to my Dad and is working his way through the books and really liking then too.