Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt Narrator: Grover Gardner
Series: Andy Carpenter #1
on April 3, 2008
Genres: Mystery
Length: 6 hours, 50 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Goodreads
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Attorney Andy Carpenter's legal maneuvers are legion in and out of the courtrooms of Paterson, New Jersey. A talented lawyer who knows how to play all the cards, he is torn between mending a marriage that no longer works and growing attached to a beautiful, no-nonsense private investigator. Besides his love for sports, Andy also adores Tara, a golden retriever clearly smarter than half the lawyers who clog the courts of Passaic County. Then one day the fun stops.
It all begins when Andy's father, venerated ex-district attorney Nelson Carpenter, asks him to take the appeals case of Willie Miller, a young black man on death row for the murder of a white woman. Nelson himself had prosecuted Miller but refuses to disclose why he wants Andy to represent the convicted man. A few days later, Nelson drops dead in front of his son at a game in Yankee Stadium.
Suddenly Andy finds himself the inheritor of a staggering fortune he never knew his father had. The astonished advocate soon unearths a mysterious old photograph of a much younger Nelson, a picture that may have a sinister connection to the Willie Miller case. But before he can sort out the truth behind his father's life and death, Andy receives an anonymous threat - delivered in a most terrifying fashion.
Now the quick-witted Andy, with his client's life hanging in the balance, must uncover a decades-old secret, one so shocking and unthinkable as to threaten everything he believes in and everyone he has ever loved. Caught in an explosive endgame, he will face the heat of a deadly political firestorm ... where the wrong move will close out his case for good.
Read It, Rate It and Record
A short review to update challenges
I got this audio because I am reviewing Bark of Night which is the newest in the Andy Carpenter series. While I can’t hope to read all 17 before it, I wanted to at least read Open and Shut, which is the first book. Of course, I’m glad I did.
We are introduced to Andy Carpenter, his work and circle of friends and family. He has a golden retriever, Tara who doesn’t play a big role, perhaps in future books. His father’s death brings to his attention all sorts of things he never knew and has him questioning many aspects of his own life and relationships. The major revelations about his father’s circle will certainly shape his life going forward.
I enjoyed listening and getting to know this world and character. I always like character development which definitely happens here. Andy started out a bit wishy-washy or perhaps immature but he grew into a better place by the end. I’m sure I’ll be reading more in this series, including the latest one.
Narration:
This narrator was new to me and it took a little time to get settled into his way of speaking. Once that happened, it was comfortable and enjoyable to listen.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About David Rosenfelt
I am a novelist with 27 dogs.
I have gotten to this dubious position with absolutely no planning, and at no stage in my life could I have predicted it. But here I am.
My childhood was relentlessly normal. The middle of three brothers, loving parents, a middle-class home in Paterson, New Jersey. We played sports, studied sporadically. laughed around the dinner table, and generally had a good time. By comparison, “Ozzie and Harriet’s” clan seemed bizarre.
I graduated NYU, then decided to go into the movie business. I was stunningly brilliant at a job interview with my uncle, who was President of United Artists, and was immediately hired. It set me off on a climb up the executive ladder, culminating in my becoming President of Marketing for Tri-Star Pictures. The movie landscape is filled with the movies I buried; for every “Rambo”, “The Natural” and “Rocky”, there are countless disasters.
I did manage to find the time to marry and have two children, both of whom are doing very well, and fortunately neither have inherited my eccentricities.
A number of years ago, I left the movie marketing business, to the sustained applause of hundreds of disgruntled producers and directors. I decided to try my hand at writing. I wrote and sold a bunch of feature films, none of which ever came close to being actually filmed, and then a bunch of TV movies, some of which actually made it to the small screen. It’s safe to say that their impact on the American cultural scene has been minimal.
About fourteen years ago, my wife and I started the Tara Foundation, named in honor of the greatest Golden Retriever the world has ever known. We rescued almost 4,000 dogs, many of them Goldens, and found them loving homes. Our own home quickly became a sanctuary for those dogs that we rescued that were too old or sickly to be wanted by others. They surround me as I write this. It’s total lunacy, but it works, and they are a happy, safe group.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Audiobooks
- 2019 Library-Love
- BTB 2019
- COYER Hunt
I should probably read the first book in a series before I randomly pick up a book midway in a series, it’ll probably obliterate all the questions and confusions I’m usually battling while reading lol.
It’s rare that I will read out of order. I made an exception here and read book 1 and then book 19. Since each has different legal cases it’s ok. The personal life stuff is what gets messed up for reading out of order. The main guy is married to different women in book 1 than in book 19.