Book ~ "Leader of the Pack" (2012) David Rosenfelt

From Goodreads ~ Over the course of his legal career, Andy Carpenter has lost a few cases. But that doesn't mean he forgets his clients. Andy has always been convinced that Joey Desimone, a man convicted of murder nine years ago, was innocent and believes that Joey's family's connections to organized crime played a pivotal role in his conviction. While there isn't much Andy can do for him while he serves out his prison sentence, Joey suggests that he check up on Joey's elderly uncle. He'd rather not, but as a favor to Joey, Andy agrees to take his dog, Tara, on a few visits.

The old man's memory is going but when Andy tries to explain why he's there, it jogs something in the man's mind, and his comments leave Andy wondering if Uncle Nick is confused or if he just might hold the key to Joey's freedom after all this time.

Andy grabs on to this thread of possibility and follows it into a world where the oath of silence is stronger than blood ties and where people will do anything to make sure their secrets are kept.

Joey Desimone is a case that his lawyer, Andy Carpenter, had lost ... as a consequence, Joey has spent the last years in prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend and her husband.  Andy goes to visit Joey four times a year.  Once every couple of months, Andy goes through the old case files of those he has lost to see if something new jumps out at him.  In Joey's case, something does and Andy is able to get a retrial.  Andy would rather not have a case on the go (he'd rather work in the dog rescue he and his friend, Willie, have started) but this is a chance to right a wrong.

As Andy and his team investigate, they focus on a different theory ... maybe the ex-girlfriend wasn't the target but her husband was.  This leads Andy to dig into the dealings of Joey's family, which is "the family" since they are into organized crime.

This is the tenth book I've read by this author and I thought it was okay.  Though the story was a bit convoluted, I thought the "whodunnit" at the end was an interesting surprise.  I liked the writing style as it was funny, sarcastic and amusing.  It was written in first person perspective in Andy's voice but at times it was also written in third person perspective.  It is the tenth in the Andy Carpenter series (and the tenth I've read) and it works as a stand alone (so you don't need to have read the ones before it to know what is going on).

I like Andy.  He loves his dog, Tara, and thinks she's the most wonderful dog in the whole wide world.  Laurie, Andy's love interest, is living with him and working as his investigator.  Hike is Andy's associate and is the most depressed and downer person ever.  Sam, his accountant who is also a computer hacker, wants a more active role but finds out the hard way that maybe he should stick to staying behind his computer.  Marcus, an investigator with persuasive reasoning skills, rounds out the team and continues to provide protection when it's most needed (which is often).