Christmas / Mystery

Best in Snow (Andy Carpenter #24)

Author: David Rosenfelt 

Average Rating:   4 / 5

Trigger Warnings:

Peace, Joy, & … Murder?? 

Lawyer Andy Carpenter wasn’t thinking about work when he took his three dogs for a snowy winter walk. Two feet of snow had just been dumped on Paterson, New Jersey, and the resulting winter wonderland was beautiful, albeit a little hard to slog through.

When Tara, his golden retriever, catches a scent and starts digging, she doesn’t find a bunny but a body. Now Andy’s holiday season has taken a turn for the unexpected. This wasn’t what Saint Nick was talking about when he referenced the magic and mystery of Christmas. 

Soon Andy is on the phone with the local newspaper editor.  The paper had a contentious relationship with the murder victim, Mayor Alex Oliva. The previous year they had published a scandalous expose written by a young reporter, whom Oliva had fired for libel. Now that same young reporter needs a lawyer because he looks like the perfect suspect.

It’s not looking good, but Andy agrees to take the case, despite the evidence that keeps piling up in drifts. Will Andy be able to shovel his client out in time?

Corinna : 4/5

I picked this book up during a road trip with Sharaya where we had a bingo card of the types of books we needed to find at a variety of independent, used bookstores. This was my “Christmas” themed choice. The setting of Christmas, with a side of murder, and throwing in some cute dogs made this a fun, smart, quick read. I was pleasantly surprised, as we all know Christmas movies/stories have a reputation for loading on the cheese rather thick. This was totally different! The main character, Andy Carpenter, is a lawyer and had a dry, sarcastic humor that I loved. Rosenfelt appeared to have good working knowledge of politics and the legal system, making the story compelling and interesting. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a light Christmas theme, without all the extra cheese.

Lydia : 4/5

I surprisingly loved this book. It was unexpected and very well written. It isn’t your traditional Christmas novel. Rather, the Christmas theme is present only to tell the reader the time in which the events take place, however I thought it was done wonderfully! A Christmas time whodunnit novel that left me questioning every character and their motives. Even more amazing, was the fact that the author included dogs – how can you not love a book with dogs in it?! It added to the cozy and cute themes that were present, alongside the mystery which ended up being a perfect balance. 

This book was not gory, nor was it very dark. It was just really fun to read. I highly recommend you pick this one up for your next Christmas read if you like the mystery genre. 

As an added bonus, I have heard that the audiobook plays Christmas music in the background for certain chapters.

To access a printable list of 10 book club questions, please click here.