Holy Chow

February 1, 2022

In The Paper Caper, Carlisle's latest "Bibliophile Mystery," murder transpires at the first annual Mark Twain Festival, held by Brooklyn Wainwright at her bookstore and underwritten by media magnate Joseph Cabot. In Castillo's The Hidden One, Amish elders turn to Painters Mill chief of police Kate Burkholder when the remains of a long-vanished bishop are discovered, bearing evidence of foul play (150,000-copy first printing). Private informer Flavia Albia's next Desperate Undertaking is finding a serial killer (or killers) committing brutal murder and staging the corpses around Davis's first-century CE Rome (30,000-copy first printing). In Hokuloa Road, cross genre-writing, Shirley Jackson Award-winning Hand makes Grady Kendall caretaker of a luxury property in Hawaii (as far as possible from his native Maine), then has him hunting for a young woman from his flight who has since vanished (30,000-copy first printing). In McCall Smith's The Sweet Remnants of Summer, Isabel Dalhousie is serving on an advisory committee for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery when she is caught up in the squabbles of a prominent family where Nationalist vs. Socialist ideologies prevail. In Peril at the Exposition, a follow-up to March's Edgar finalist debut, Murder in Old Bombay, newlyweds Capt. Jim Agnihotri and Diana Framji have left British-ruled Bombay (now Mumbai) for 1890s Boston when Jim is sent to investigate a murder in Chicago (50,000-copy first printing). In Munier's The Wedding Plot, Mercy's grandmother Patience is set to marry her longtime beloved at the five-star Lady's Slipper Inn when family enmities bubble to the surface, the inn's spa director vanishes, and a stranger turns up dead (30,000-copy first printing). In An Honest Living--a debut from Murphy, editor in chief of CrimeReads, Literary Hub's crime fiction vertical--an attorney picking up odd jobs after walking out on his stranglehold law firm agrees to help reclusive literati Anna Reddick find her possibly thieving bookseller husband, and all's well until the real Anna Reddick walks in. In Rosenfelt's Holy Chow, an older woman who adopts sweet senior chow mix Tessie from Andy Carpenter's Tara Foundation makes Andy promise that if she dies he will take care of Tessie provided that her son cannot--which he certainly can't when he is arrested days later on suspicion of his mother's murder (60,000-copy first printing).

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May 1, 2022
Adopting Lion, an adorable chow, from Paterson lawyer Andy Carpenter's Tara Foundation isn't enough to keep an unassuming billionaire alive. Rachel Morehouse didn't earn all that money herself; she inherited it from her husband, private equity mogul Stanley Wasserman. But once she replaced him as the power behind Wasserman Equities, she began making forward-looking arrangements: asking Andy how he'd feel about taking Lion back if her stepson, Anthony Wasserman, didn't want him; getting better acquainted with Tony, who'd moved to Indiana after feuding with his father years ago; and learning more about how the foundation works. When an autopsy reveals that Rachel died from an injection of potassium chloride, prosecutor Kathryn Strickland, recently arrived from Delaware, assumes the second of these activities, which brought Tony under Rachel's capacious roof for the last three weeks of her life, was to blame. But Andy, suspecting that the third activity was responsible, arranges to have all his usual helpers, from investigator Corey Douglas to the Bubeleh Brigade of seniors, take a long, hard look under the hood of Wasserman Equities. They're still looking when the starting gun begins Tony's trial and Andy has to scramble to hold his own against the unexpectedly sharp and resourceful Strickland. As usual in Andy's recent outings, the courtroom battles involving the two lawyers and the trial judge are a lot more engaging than the mystery of Rachel Morehouse's death, the obligatory large-scale criminal conspiracy, the rapidly escalating body count, or the surprisingly muted conclusion. Still, here's Andy, and over there, in the distance, is yet another dog. What else could you want?

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May 23, 2022
In Edgar finalist Rosenfelt’s wry 25th Andy Carpenter novel (after 2021’s Best in Show), the semiretired Paterson, N.J., defense attorney arranges for Rachel Morehouse to adopt a Chow Chow through his dog rescue organization, the Tara Foundation. When Rachel suddenly dies, Andy is surprised to learn she ran a multibillion-dollar corporation and left the Tara Foundation $2 million. He attends the reading of the will, where he meets her stepson, Tony, a high school chemistry teacher who had been staying with Rachel as they attempted to build a relationship after the death of Tony’s estranged father. When an autopsy reveals that Rachel was murdered with potassium chloride, the police arrest Tony and charge him with murder. Believing in Tony’s innocence, Andy takes on the case and employs his team of investigators to help mount Tony’s defense. Despite a large cast of recurring characters, Rosenfelt is shrewd about how he showcases each person so that readers new to the series won’t get lost. He also crafts a satisfying mystery with just the right balance of humor, fast-paced dialogue, and well-executed action pieces. This long-running series remains as fresh as ever. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House.