Bark of Night by David Rosenfelt

Bark of Night is the 19th Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt. Bark starts with Andy’s golden retriever Tara on a routine visit to the vet when Andy’s vet calls him into the back room. Fearing the worst, Andy discovers that the problem is not with Tara but the veterinarian has another problem he wants his help with. It seems a man brought in a healthy french bulldog named Truman and asked to have him euthanized. The vet took the dog but objected to euthanizing a perfectly healthy dog. Doing some checking, he found out that the man was not Truman's owner. This infuriates both Andy and the vet but the issue is further complicated because Truman's real owner has been murdered.

Andy of course agrees to help the dog find a new home and try to find out what happened to the owner. Inevitably the police arrest someone whom Andy suspects is innocent and Andy reluctantly takes on another case. So much for being retired. Digging into the case Andy finds a lot of odd bits of information that doesn’t quite add up. It involves mob enforcers, a Florida connection and sponge diving. Andy and the gang, including his wife and her former partner Marcus, continue digging into the complicated plot and it isn't long before more bodies turn up.

The plot never actually gets too heavy and Rosenfelt keeps dropping in one-liners that are funnier than they should be. Lines like the description of the mob boss Fat Tony, who is called that because he is fat, and his name is Tony. Andy’s case of course winds up in front of a judge where Andy has to do his typical courtroom antics in order to make sure that an innocent boy does not wind up behind bars and the true culprits are brought to justice.

Bark of Night is another great entry in the Andy Carpenter series that is it is both entertaining and fun. The events move along at a steady clip with lots of excitement along the way and plenty of sly humor. Andy and his crew are a lot of fun to spend time with which is a large part of this series enduring success.

Grover Gardner does another amazing job with the narration. His tone perfectly captures Andy’s dry wit and keeps the story humming along and keeps you chuckling along with it. Andy Carpenter stories are a lot of fun and this one is no different. This is sure to please longtime fans of the series and anyone new to the series should have no trouble jumping right in.

I was provided a copy of this audiobook by the publisher.

Listen to a sample:

Buy it here: