Nothing like dropping in to a series at book 19. (I didn't realize it was book 19 until I came on to review sites. I was aware it was part of a series and not the first book in the series though.) It can be read as a stand alone although you may understand the characters better if you've read the rest of the series first.

I was attracted by the dog reference in the title as well as it having a dog on the cover.

This particular book didn't involve the dogs too much once the plot got going. Tara (Andy's dog) did not really feature much in this book besides being the reason Andy was at the vet. ( )

This legal mystery and courtroom drama features Andy Carpenter a lawyer who also rescues dogs. In this episode, Andy is consulted by Tara's vet after a healthy French bulldog has been brought in to be euthanized. Turns out Truman has a microchip showing the client who brought him in is not the owner. This becomes a much bigger issue when the real owner is found to have been murdered. Andy is hooked again. As well as a dependable plot, I love Rosenfelt's humour. ( )

Andy Carpenter is hilarious. If you can get a hold of audio book, do it. It's so much fun. A brilliant criminal defense attorney and dog rescuer did it again! ( )

Bark of Night is #19 of this stand-up comedy/mystery/dog-related legal procedural crime series. We have not read all of them, but it’s not a problem to follow the plots no matter which book you pick up.

Andy Carpenter, the main character, is a criminal defense attorney in Paterson, New Jersey who hates to work, but keeps taking on new litigation anyway, albeit reluctantly. Usually a case comes to his attention because of some involvement of a dog. Andy, who came into a lot of money from a previous win in court, prefers spending time with his dog rescue foundation to doing legal work, or any work at all, for that matter.

He is called in for a consultation by his dogs’ veterinarian, and Andy is terrified one of his dogs has a medical issue. But the vet wants Andy’s advice on another matter. A healthy French bulldog named Truman was dropped off several days earlier by a man paying a hefty fee to have Truman euthanized. Oddly, however, Truman has a chip indicating that the man who brought him in was not in fact the owner. Furthermore, the newspaper revealed Truman’s real owner had just been murdered. A young kid was arrested right away for the crime and is about to face a jury in what the prosecution thinks is a "slam-dunk" case. But Andy suspects the man who brought Truman in is the guilty party and that the kid was framed.

Thus, Andy once again gets pulled into taking on a client, and as is generally the case, it turns into something much bigger than anyone suspected. In fact, other suspicious and possibly related deaths follow. The good news is, Andy’s client is clearly innocent since he is in jail. The bad news is, Andy and his unorthodox team have to figure out what has been going on and who the real guilty party is before the verdict in his client's case can be returned.

Evaluation: What could be more fun than Andy’s self-deprecating snarky commentary on everyone and everything? All of the author’s books in this series are quick reads and uniformly enjoyable. ( )

No one can write like David Rosenfelt. He has a unique method of writing a suspenseful tale that is laced together with imaginative humor. In this 19th installment, Andy’s vet has presented him with a problem. A new client has dropped off a healthy dog to be euthanized, something the vet wasn’t going to do. Andy gets involved rescuing the dog, but almost before he can turn around, he finds himself defending a young man accused of murdering the dog’s owner. Of course, he says he didn’t do it. The more Andy digs into the case, the stranger it becomes. Bodies start piling up, seemingly unrelated, but if Andy and his team can’t link them together, his young client will be going to prison for a long time. The suspense in this mystery will keep you turning pages, but the humor will have you laughing and rolling your eyes at Andy. All I can say is, I wish David Rosenfelt could write faster - it’s too long to wait for the next book to come out. ( )