Book Review: One Dog Night by David Rosenfelt

One Dog Night
Author: David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter Mysteries (Book 9)
Publication: Minotaur Books (July 5, 2011)

Description: Lawyer Andy Carpenter will have to pull out all of his tricks to get to the bottom of this cold case turned white hot in One Dog Night, the latest in David Rosenfelt's popular mystery series.

For six years Noah Galloway has lived with a horrible secret and the fear that his rebuilt life could be shattered at any moment. Now his dread has become a certainty, and he has been arrested for the arson murder of twenty-six people.

What he needs is defense lawyer Andy Carpenter, who most definitely is not in the market for a new client. So Noah plays his hole card: a shared love for Andy’s golden retriever, Tara, and the knowledge that Andy wasn’t her first owner—Noah rescued Tara first. When Noah wasn’t able to care for her any longer, he did everything in his power to make sure that she was placed in the right home: Andy’s.

Andy soon learns that the long-ago event that may destroy Noah’s life is only the beginning of an ongoing conspiracy that grows more deadly by the day.

My Thoughts: The ninth Andy Carpenter mystery has Andy defending the man who rescued and owned Andy's beloved golden retriever Tara before Andy. Noah Galloway was a chemical engineer turned drug addict when he surrendered Tara to the shelter where Andy found her. Now, six years later has rebuilt his life but he's been keeping a terrible secret. He believes that he was responsible for the deaths of twenty-six people in one of the worst arson fires in Paterson's history. 

Despite Noah's desire to plead guilty to save his wife and small child from the horrors of a trial, Andy isn't so sure. He has lots of questions concerning the man who went to the FBI six years after the event and said that Noah had confessed the crime - complete with all the details -- to him and now his conscience has convinced him to go to the FBI. Even more questions arise when that oh-so-helpful witness is murdered in Las Vegas and can't be cross-examined by Andy. 

And Andy has questions about a man who follows Laurie and him and who is then killed by a sniper before Marcus can question him. Phone records hacked by Sam the accountant raise the question of some large conspiracy where framing Noah is just one small cog. But can Andy discover what is going on before his client is convicted for murders he did not commit?

It takes Andy's whole team including a group of computer hacking Jewish octogenarians before all the pieces come together for a satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed this story with its complex plot and great characters. Andy is my favorite fictional lawyer.

Favorite Quote:

Because the idea that trials are a search for the truth is just a myth. Trials are a search for that which the jury will believe is the truth.

I bought this one in November 2022 when it was a Kindle Deal. You can buy your copy here.