[I received an electronic review copy from Netgalley and Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Fourteen years ago, Kristen McNeil was killed. She was a young woman – 18 – and her body was found by a rundown stadium. While she had DNA under her fingernails, the police couldn’t find a match. Until now.
Andy Carpenter’s wife, Laurie, is a huge fan of Christmas. One of her favorite parts is claiming Christmas wishes for families in their community and using Andy’s considerable wealth to meet them. This year she pulls a tag for a boy named Danny. Laurie is happy to provide everything he asks for – a coat for his mom, and a sweater for his dachshund, Murphy. But Danny also asks Santa to bring his dad home. As an investigator, Laurie’s the perfect person to find Noah Traynor. Except Danny’s mom acts like she doesn’t want him found.
Noah Traynor has been hiding in a motel, but it’s only a matter of time until the police find him. His brother just had to do one of those DNA kits. Once the results are uploaded, they are fair game for law enforcement. While Noah didn’t kill Kristen, he knows his DNA would have been at the scene because he had been there with her that night.
Once Noah is arrested, Andy’s on the case. Danny’s Christmas wish is to have his dad home – and Laurie’s going to make sure they do everything they can to make that happen!
Review
This was delightful! My favorite characters, a holiday story, an excellent mystery, and several adorable dogs. What’s not to love?!
Andy is in great form in this book. The dry humor was excellent. The author even gets a mention in the book, which was a hoot. The legal support team plays a smaller role in this book, but they all get equal time compared to one another, except of course for Laurie. There are a couple new characters who figured prominently in this one – not the Traynors, but other characters – that I loved! Those characters and their role in this book sets the stage for Rosenfelt’s spin-off series/book, The K Team, coming in 2020.
The mystery in this was fantastic. There was no organized crime angle like in many of the previous books, so this felt fresh. And my guess for the solution was off base all the way to the end. The wrap up was clever, and I thoroughly enjoyed all the twists and turns.
It was a Christmas book that introduced me to the Andy Carpenter series three years ago (The Twelve Dogs of Christmas, Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥), and they are among my favorites in the series. If you haven’t read an Andy Carpenter book before, give this one a try. It’s book 20 in the series, but the Christmas books seem especially new-reader-friendly to me. I don’t think a newcomer would have any trouble following the main action of this book. Of course, series fans should definitely not miss this one!