New Discovery

I have now read two of David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter novels: Open and Shut and Bury the Lead. They are a delight. I was given an advance reader's copy of the latter, read it and immediately ordered the first two in the series. I'm enjoying the second in the series, First Degree, currently. (It's not necessary to read them in order, but it helps understand some of the characters.)

Carpenter is a wise-cracking, self-deprecatory, witty lawyer who has inherited a huge amount of money (how and why are explained in Open and Shut) from his father who had invested the money and then never touched it.

Carpenter loves dogs and Tara, his lab, is a prominent feature. For an author who is not a lawyer, the courtroom scenes ring surprisingly true -- not that I would have much of a clue about real courtroom scenarios. There is a hysterical scene in the first novel as Carpenter pulls all sorts of tricks in the courtroom to get his client off.

Regulars:

Laurie: Andy's love whom he gets off of a murder charge in First Degree. She's also his PI and their dialogue is reminiscent of that of Susan and Spencer in the Parker novels.
Edna: Andy's crossword puzzle expert secretary who concentrates so hard on the puzzles she rarely looks up when someone enters.
Willie: whom Andy got off in the first novel. Willie had been on death row for a crime he did not commit but who Andy's father-in-law had. Andy's huge fortune stems from ramifications of this case. Willie now runs Andy's dog shelter.
Tara: Simply the best dog in the world whose favorite position is "lying on her side with her head resting just above my knee. It virtually forces me to pet her every time I reach for my beer. . . ."
Sam: His computer expert who can hack into just about anything but never seems to have any money. He and Andy play a little game every time they converse, which is to work song lyrics into their conversations whenever possible chance.
Pete Stanton: Police lieutenant and just about the only friend Andy has on the force.

Sample: "Time is the ultimate pain in the ass. It consistently, absolutely, and obnoxiously does the exact opposite of what one wants it to do. This is my theory and I'm sticking to it. In fact, it is just one of the profound theories I am able to come up with such as this, lying in bed, unable to sleep, at three o'clock in the morning."

Very enjoyable reads. I will leap to buy the next one. Long live the series.