Book ~ "Bark of Night" (2019) David Rosenfelt

From Goodreads ~ When defense lawyer Andy Carpenter’s veterinarian asks to speak to him privately at the checkup of his golden retriever, Tara, the last thing Andy expects is Truman. Tiny healthy French bulldog Truman was dropped off days ago with instructions to be euthanized by a man everyone thought was his owner. But now the owner is nowhere to be found.

Andy is furious. Who would want to euthanize a perfectly healthy dog with no explanation? He is willing to whisk Truman away to the Tara Foundation, the dog-rescue organization which is Andy’s true passion. They will find a home for Truman. But that’s not all the vet tells Andy. Thanks to Truman’s chip, it’s discovered that the man wasn’t Truman’s owner at all ... Truman's real owner was murdered.

It’s now up to Andy – with help from his loyal sidekick Tara, Truman and the rest of the gang – to solve this case. 

Andy is a criminal defense lawyer who doesn't want any clients.  Because of the money his father left him, he is able to not work and spend his time with his friend, Willie, running the Tara Foundation, a dog rescue that he and Willie formed.  He is married to Laurie, they have a young son, Ricky, and he is enjoying his life.  He loves their dog, Tara, and thinks she's the best dog in the world.  They also has another less lively dog named Sebastian. 

When Andy gets a called from his vet, he thinks the worst ... that there is something wrong with Tara.  Thankfully Tara is great!  His vet actually wants to talk to him about a dog that was brought in to be euthanized.  It turns out the dog is micro-chipped and is named Truman.  His real owner was recently murdered and a young man named Joey has been arrested.  Because someone callously wanted to have a young healthy dog euthanized, Andy gets involved and realizes an innocent young man may go to prison for life for a murder he didn't commit.

This is the nineteenth in the Andy Carpenter series (I've read them all).  I enjoyed this book and am enjoying this series.  I find with most series that by the time an author has come this far, the series isn't good and the author is pounding out the books just to get a paycheque.  That's not the case with this series ... the author is able to keep this series fresh and fun.

The story was interesting and it didn't come together until the end.  Even though it is part of a series, 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 the writing style of this author as it was funny, sarcastic and amusing.  It was written mostly in first person perspective in Andy's voice but is sometimes in third person perspective when the focus is on the bad guys.

I like Andy ... I think he would be a hoot to be around and he's quite generous with his time and money (his two best friends continue to take advantage of his tab at their favourite bar).  Part of Andy's team is Laurie, a former police officer and now his investigator.  Marcus, an investigator with "persuasive" reasoning skills, continues to provide protection when it's most needed (which is often since Andy is a self-professed coward).  Sam is his accountant who is also a computer hack and Hike is his depressed/depressing associate.  Edna is his secretary who, like Andy, would rather he not take on any cases.