[Andy Carpenter Series 04] • Sudden Death

David Rosenfelt's previous novel. "Bury the Lead, was published in Mysterious Press hardcover in 6/04, and was a "Today show Book Club Pick chosen by Janet Evanovich.- "First Degree (Mysterious Press, 5/03) won raves from national publications, including "Entertainment Weekly, and starred reviews from both "Kirkus Reviews and "Publishers Weekly.- The author's debut novel. "Open and Shut (Mysterious Press, 2002), was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was praised in the "New York Times.- David Rosenfelt's previous three books were Featured Alternates of The Mystery Guild," with foreign rights sold in Bulgaria, France, Germany, and Japan.From Publishers WeeklyAbridging a mystery is always a tricky task—cut too much and the reader is either in the dark or wondering about dangling plot threads. But this abridgement is superbly done, reducing the length while maintaining the novel's essence and without sacrificing clarity. Lawyer Andy Carpenter finds himself roped into defending a New York Giants star running back who police find holed up in his house with a gun, and the dead body of a New York Jets receiver. Getting his unwanted client off won't be easy, especially when drug lords become involved, putting Andy's life—and the lives of those he cares about—on the line. Gardner's voice isn't what one would call resonant or even particularly pleasant, but he's undeniably compelling, and here he portrays the wisecracking and insecure Carpenter exactly right—a mix of neo-noirish gumshoe and hot-shot city lawyer. Gardner is one of the stars of audiobook narration—he's recorded more than 450 audiobooks and AudioFile magazine named him one of the "best voices of the century"—and he reinforces that reputation here. Gardner takes this otherwise mildly entertaining potboiler and turns it into a must-hear murder mystery. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From BooklistAndy Carpenter, the Paterson, New Jersey, defense lawyer, returns for his fourth outing. His client: a football player accused of murdering a fellow player (the case being complicated by the fact that the accused killer was holed up in his own house, with a gun and the murdered man's body). But Andy soon discovers that this murder is similar to several earlier killings. Carpenter is a strong series lead, one of those wisecracking-but-don't-underestimate-him kinds of characters. He's also independently wealthy (his father left him $22 million), which means he can pick and choose his cases. The author handles the material deftly, mixing humor and whodunit but never letting the comedy overwhelm the mystery. The novels are written in the present tense, a much overused gimmick in the genre; but here it somehow works, helping to sustain tension by establishing that neither Andy nor the reader knows what's about to happen. A cracking good yarn. David PittCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved