Twelve Dogs of Christmas (Rosenfelt)

The Twelve Dogs of Christmas (An Andy Carpenter Mystery 15)
David Rosenfelt, 2018
St. Martin's Press
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250106766 


Summary
Defense lawyer Andy Carpenter usually tries to avoid taking on new cases at all costs. But this time, he’s happy—eager, even—to take the case that’s just come his way.

Andy’s long-time friend Martha "Pups" Boyer takes in stray puppies and then finds good homes for them. Not everyone admires her work.

With Christmas just around the corner, one of her neighbors has just reported Pups to the city for having more than the legal number of pets in her home under the local zoning laws.

Andy happily takes Pups’s case. Who could punish someone for rescuing puppies, after all, especially at Christmas time?

But things get a lot more complicated when Randy Hennessey, the neighbor who registered the complaint against Pups, turns up dead. All the evidence seems to point to Pups as the killer, and suddenly Andy has a murder case on his hands.

As he starts digging deeper into the truth behind Hennessey’s murder, Andy may find himself facing a killer more dangerous than he ever imagined. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1949
• Where—Paterson, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.A., New York University
• Awards—Shamus Award
• Currently—lives on Damariscotta Lake in Maine


David Rosenfelt is an author who has written nineteen novels and three TV movies. His main character in most of his mystery books is Andy Carpenter, attorney and dog lover.

Rosenfelt graduated from New York University and then decided to work in the movie business. After being interviewed by his uncle, who was the President of United Artists, he was hired and worked his way up the corporate culture. Rosenfelt eventually became the marketing president for Tri-Star Pictures. He married and had two children during this period.

Rosenfelt left the corporate industry and wrote screenplays for movies and television. He turned to writing novels and has become quite successful in that genre. In 1995, he and his wife started the "Tara Foundation" which has saved almost 4,000 dogs. He is a dog lover and supports more than two dozen dogs.

Rosenfelt, a dog lover and who worked with many lawyers in his occupation, created a character, Andy Carpenter, an attorney who faces corporate cultures and who is a dog lover. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 1/3/2019.)

Book Reviews
Rosenfelt’s entertaining 15th legal thriller featuring Patterson, N.J., attorney Andy Carpenter…. Rosenfelt integrates Andy’s vocation of finding rescued dogs permanent homes—which the author shares with his character—without overwhelming the story.
Publishers Weekly


The wisecracking, dog-loving attorney still has plenty of appeal in this fast-paced Christmas mystery that avoids any holiday sentimentality.
Library Journal


Rosenfelt…continues to write some of the best hooks in the genre…. [His] canine-loving hero is always good company—especially when he deals with someone who’s gone to the dogs even more completely than him.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
Many thanks to Shelley Holley, M.L.S., of the Southington (CT) Public Library for creating THE TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS questions … and sharing them with us:

1. What did you think of the book?

2. Does this story make you want to read his other stories in the series?

3. What did you think of the setting and the community in this book?

4. Did you like that the dogs had a big part of the story?

5. Did you find it easy to relate to Andy because he was very open about his manner in helping Pups?

6. Did you find it odd that Pups and Jake never wanted to sell the land?

7. Did you ever believe that Pups was the killer?

8. Did you find Linda Devereux a credible witness?

9. Did Linda’s testimony make you think that Jake was cheating on Pups?

10. How long did it take you to figure out the mystery?

11. Were you surprised that Hank Boyer was an imposter?

12. Did you think that Rosenfelt kept the suspense going throughout the book?

(Questions submitted to LitLovers by Shelley Holley of the Southington Public Library. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution to both. Thanks.)

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