Book ~ "Hounded" (2014) David Rosenfelt

From Goodreads ~ Andy Carpenter isn't sure what to think when he gets a mysterious phone call from a good friend, policeman Pete Stanton, asking him to drop everything, drive to an unfamiliar address, and bring his girlfriend, Laurie Collins. 

He certainly isn't expecting to show up at a crime scene. But that's exactly where he arrives - at the house where Pete has just discovered the body of ex-convict Danny Diza. Upstairs are Danny's now orphaned eight-year-old son and basset hound. 

And that, Andy discovers, is why he and Laurie were called to the scene - Pete wants them to take care of the boy and the dog so they won't get thrown into the "system." This is already asking a lot but soon Pete needs another big favor from Andy. Pete himself has come under suspicion for Danny's murder and he needs defense attorney Andy to represent him ... and to find out what really happened in Danny's house that day. 

Andy is a lawyer in New Jersey.  He's lucky in that he's wealthy so he doesn't have to take on any clients.  He can work in the dog rescue that he and his friend, Willy, have started or do anything else he wants.

One night Andy gets a call from his friend, Pete, who is a cop, asking him to bring, Laurie, Andy's live-in girlfriend, to a crime scene.  It turns out that a friend of Pete's named Danny, who was also a police informant, was murdered.  Pete asks Andy and Laurie to take care of Danny's young son, Ricky, and their dog, Sebastian, so Ricky doesn't get put into the system since he has no family.  It's quite a surprise, though, when Pete is arrested for the murder of Ricky and Andy must do all he can to defend his friend.

This is the twelfth book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  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 twelfth in the Andy Carpenter series (and the twelfth 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.  Part of Andy's team is Hike, his associate who is the most depressed and downer person ever.  Marcus, an investigator with persuasive reasoning skills, and continues to provide protection when it's most needed (which is often) and Andy is a self-professed coward.  Sam is his accountant who is also a computer hack.