‘Rescued’ unleashes doggone clever mystery

Defense attorney Andy Carpenter is known to win seemingly unwinnable cases. In “Rescued,” the 17th of David Rosenfelt’s novels featuring Carpenter, the maverick legal eagle’s not sure if he can pull off his usual miracle because the evidence against his client is overwhelming.

Private investigator David Kramer is accused in the death of Kenny Zimmer, who was transporting 61 dogs from the South to the Northeast, where they could be adopted.

Kramer says he shot Zimmer at a rest stop in New Jersey, but insists it was in self-defense. Zimmer, he says, asked to meet him in the truck carrying the dogs, but when he showed up, Zimmer came at him with a large knife.

No knife was found at the crime scene. Carpenter theorizes that a third person hiding in the truck removed the knife, but video footage recorded no such person. Worse, Kramer had beaten up Zimmer once before.

Defending the man is difficult for Carpenter. He must overcome his “childish jealousy” of Kramer, his wife’s exboyfriend. While taking care of the dogs from the truck at a dog rescue foundation he operates with friends, he tries to find answers to two questions: What happened to the knife? Why are no dog rescue centers in the Northeast expecting these dogs?

Carpenter is helped by familiar characters such as Marcus the bodyguard, “the scariest person on the planet,” and Hike the associate lawyer, “the most downbeat person in the history of the world.”

In the end, an incident involving a dog enables Carpenter not only to win an acquittal, but also to uncover a conspiracy that could have resulted in a national disaster.

Rosenfelt has written mysteries with different protagonists, but the humorous Carpenter series makes him one of the most unforgettable authors in the genre.