Holy Chow Review

Author David Rosenfelt

Series: Andy Carpenter #25

Genre: Mystery

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Release Date: July 5, 2022

Order Link: amazon

Many thanks to Minotaur Books for an arc of this book.

In the next mystery from bestselling author David Rosenfelt, the beloved characters—both human and canine—of this fan favorite series are back on the case with the author’s trademark wit and humor.

Review:

Holy Chow is book number twenty five in the Andy Carpenter Series . . . and the first one I've ever read!  Talk about being late to the game!  However, I'm delighted to say that this book stands completely alone with enough backstory for me to step into it and immediately fall in love with the man and his rescue group for dogs.  

In Holy Chow, a woman is discovered dead who owns a big Chow named "Lion" acquired from Andy's dog rescue, the Tara Foundation.  She recently reached out to Andy to let him know that if she died and her stepson Tony doesn't want the dog, her wishes are for Andy to take Lion back.  Andy attends the reading of the will and learns Tony, her stepson loves Lion and will be happy to take the dog. The only fly in the ointment is that police are arresting Tony for her murder.  Andy agrees to represent Tony because he believes he's innocent and when he starts looking into Rachel's late husband's business, something is definitely off-kilter.  As Andy digs deeper, it's clear he's making someone very nervous. 

Holy Chow  strikes me as a crossover between a cozy and legal mystery thriller.  I quickly fell in love with Andy's wry sense of self-deprecating humor and enjoyed the banter between cast members who many will recognize as old favorites.  Excellent writing, characterization and plotting make for easy but intriguing reading.  Being new to the series, I was surprised to realize that the dog, Lion, isn't the star of the show so to speak, but more of a pawn that draws Andy out of retirement and into the limelight and shines a bright light on the world of rescues.  Holy Chow is an entertaining story with an interesting mystery and a lot of laughs.  I highly recommend it to fans of lighter mysteries with a big dose of humor.

Synopsis:

Retired lawyer Andy Carpenter’s calling has always been running the Tara Foundation. The dog rescue organization places hundreds of dogs in new homes every year. It’s added up to so many dogs and new owners that Andy can’t even do the math. But there’s one dog—and one owner—Andy will always remember.