Book ~ "Santa's Little Yelpers" (2022) David Rosenfelt

From Goodreads ~ Tis the season in Paterson, New Jersey: Lawyer Andy Carpenter and his golden retriever, Tara, are surrounded by holiday cheer. It’s even spread to the Tara Foundation. The dog rescue organization’s newest litter of puppies has been dubbed “Santa’s Little Yelpers”. Eight puppies are a lot to handle, and Andy is relieved when volunteer Chris Myers agrees to foster them.

Myers, a newer volunteer, did time for a crime he swears he didn’t commit. When Myers discovers a key witness against him lied on the stand and there's evidence that never made it to his lawyer, he goes to Andy for advice. After Andy does some digging, he thinks they can have this conviction overturned by Christmas, no problem.

But when the witness is murdered and the evidence Andy uncovers points to Myers, things go from bad to worse. Suddenly it’s all elves on deck to make a list and check it twice so they can prove Myers is innocent.

Andy is a criminal defense lawyer who doesn't want any clients.  Because of the money his father left him and some lucrative cases, 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, three dogs and he is enjoying his life.

Chris, a volunteer with the Tara Foundation, was wrongfully convicted of murder and served his time.  A witness was paid to say he saw Chris kill a stranger behind a bar and that's what put him behind the bars.  The witness has approached Chris to confess that he did lie and he wants to come clean but he'll only speak with Chris.  When the witness changes his mind, Chris is determined to change his mind but the witness is shot dead in front o f him.  Panicked Chris runs from the house and is quickly arrested for murder.  But this time it seems he has a reason ... revenge.  Andy takes the case because they are friends and Chris is a fellow dog lover.  Andy can't prove that Chris didn't do it so he has to come up with alternative scenarios as to who else could have done it.

This is the 26th in the Andy Carpenter series (I've read them all but somehow missed #25) and I have been liking this series.  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 as it was funny, sarcastic and amusing.  It was written mostly in first person perspective in Andy's voice.

I like Andy ... I think he would be a hoot to be around and he's quite generous with his time and money (he never charges for his services).  Part of Andy's team is the K-Team (Laurie, a former police officer and now an investigator; Marcus, an investigator with "persuasive" reasoning skills; Cory, a former police officer; and Simon Garfunkel, Cory's former canine partner).  Sam is his accountant who is also a computer hack who wants to be part of the action.