A Wonderfully Dog-Filled Spin-Off

TITLE: The K Team (K Team #1)
AUTHOR: David Rosenfelt
PUBLISHER: Minotaur Books
PUBLISHING DATE: March 24, 2020

FROM GOODREADS: 

In David Rosenfelt's newest series - a spinoff of the much beloved Andy Carpenter mysteries - Andy's wife forms an investigative team with a former detective and his German shepard partner. 

Andy Carpenter's wife, Laurie, was a cop, a good one. Now she helps out on Andy's cases while also raising Ricky, their son. But she's been chafing to jump back into investigating on her own, and when her former partner and his German shepard K-9 partner come to her with a proposal, she's in. 

From the author of the bestselling Andy Carpenter mysteries comes a spectacular new series with a K-9 main character.

MY THOUGHTS: So I've never read the Andy Carpenter series and even though I intend to eventually, there are currently 22 books so it might take a while.  However, I thought this spin-off might be a decent place to dive in an wet my feet.  The K Team features Andy but only in a supporting role.  His wife Laurie, an ex law enforcement officer, has teamed up with two other individuals to form a private investigation agency called The K Team.  This book is told from the POV of one of those individuals, Corey.  Corey has just retired and doesn't know how to adjust so he figures this job will fill the void.  And along with Corey is his retired police dog, Simon Garfunkle, who he fought to keep and with Andy's help, managed to do so.  So seriously, how awesome is that name?  So obviously Simon is the 4th member of the team as he should be!

So in this first book, someone is blackmailing a prominent Judge and it is up to the team to figure out all the details.  I won't go much further into the plot other than to say it was a fun ride of twists and turns, some of which really threw me. Mentioning much more might be giving things away.  However, I will say that I love Corey.  He is somewhat sarcastic and his sense of humor is dry but great nonetheless.  For example, he is dating a woman throughout the book and he is occasionally mentioning how he will find a reason not to like her because that's what he always does, even though the reader can tell he really doesn't want to not like her.  Corey also has a great relationship with Simon and goes as far as almost killing an individual who tried to poison him.  That I can get behind.

So if you like mysteries and dogs, then I can't see how you could go wrong picking up The K Team.  It was a thrilling read and I'm very much looking forward to the next installment.

RATING:  5 PAWS