Most people in New Zealand went back to work on Monday after a couple of weeks of holidays around the Christmas and New Year period.

Although I worked the non-statutory days, I also had some ‘me time’ and I was able to get stuck into the many books that have been piling up on my end table.  (I prefer real books to electonic books, by the way, – no Kindle here!)

I read two of the David Rosenfelt books featuring Andy Carpenter, a lawyer and dog lover.  Andy has a Golden Retriever, Tara, and also supports a local rescue organisation.  He can afford to be choosy about the cases he decides to take on; Andy is wealthy thanks to a sizeable inheritance.

Play Dead and New Tricks are actually the 6th and 7th books in the Andy Carpenter series and I’ve got to get my hands on numbers 1-5 before proceeding in sequence again.

These novels were interesting stories packed with courtroom drama and, of course, dogs.

In Play Dead, the key to overturning Richard Evan’s  life sentence for murdering his girlfriend Stacy Harriman lies with his Golden Retriever, Reggie.  Presumed drowned after Richard murders Stacy on a boat (Stacy’s body was never found),  Reggie suddenly turns up at a local animal shelter years later.  Will Reggie lead Andy to the real killer?

In New Tricks, Andy becomes the court-appointed guardian of Waggy, a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy.  Waggy’s owner was murdered and the man’s wife is going to battle it out for custody of Waggy with her stepson.  That is, until the wife is also killed when her house explodes in front of Andy’s eyes and the stepson is charged with murder.  This story was full of twists and turns as well as courtroom drama.

Andy Carpenter is the protagonist is these books, unlike the Chet and Bernie books by Spencer Quinn (which I also love!) which feature Chet the Dog as the storyteller.

These novels were entertaining and made for a great, relaxing read over the holidays.   I definitely want to read all of the other Andy Carpenter books.  (there are 17 books so far with the latest book, Deck the Hounds, published in October 2018).

I think more books are going to pile up on the end table!

Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand