ARC Review: Citizen K-9 by David Rosenfelt

Citizen K-9 
Author: David Rosenfelt
Series: K Team Novels (Book 3)
Publication: Minotaur Books (March 15, 2022)

Description: In Citizen K-9, bestselling author David Rosenfelt masterfully blends mystery with dogs and humor to create an investigative team that readers will be rooting for book after book.

The Paterson Police Department has created a cold case division, and they want to hire the private investigators known as the K Team to look into the crimes. After all, Corey Douglas and his K-9 partner, German shepherd Simon Garfunkel, recently retired from the force. Plus, another K Team member, Laurie Collins, used to be a cop as well.

Their first cold case hits home for the K Team. A decade ago, at Laurie's tenth high school reunion, two of their friends simply… vanished. At the time Laurie had just left the force, and Corey was in a different department, so they had no choice but to watch from the sidelines. With no leads, the case went cold.

As the team starts to delve deeper into the events leading up to that night―reopening old wounds along the way―the pieces start to come together. But someone wants to stop them from uncovering the truth behind the disappearance, by any means necessary.

My Thoughts: The K-9 team has been hired by the Patterson Police Department to look into some cold cases. They are given a choice of cases and the team chooses one with a connection to Corey. Seven years earlier, a man and woman -- Chris Vogel and Kim Baskin -- disappear from the same 15-year high school reunion Corey is attending. There has been no trace of them since. 

As the team reinterviews all of the witnesses interviewed during the first investigation, they don't find much. They do learn that Vogel was dealing drugs for local drug lord Escobar and was also informing for the DEA. While Escobar could be guilty, it doesn't seem the way he would have done things. Disappearing a body has less impact than a messy public death on anyone with future plans for betrayal. And there is no reason that they can find for anyone to want Kim Baskin dead.

Corey investigates some of Vogel's friends who are also baffled, while Laurie and Marcus deal with possible connections to Escobar. Along the way they also discover a hired killer named Z who might or might not be working for Escobar. 

I liked Corey's growing relationship with Dani Kendall. I also liked Corey's snarky voice as he narrates this story. The plot was fast-paced and interesting with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing. 

Favorite Quote:

"I thought Beef Wellington was a wrestler."

"You are a high-society kind of guy."

"So what did you decide? Are you going with the Beef Wellington or not? I need to know; don't keep me in suspense."

"No news yet. You don't make decisions that momentous on the spur of the moment."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from the publisher. You can buy your copy here.