Bury The Lead [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

David Rosenfelt (Author), Grover Gardner (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004

Northern New Jersey has a new local hero on its cultural crime turf. He's Andy Carpenter, the Paterson defense attorney who can sling a quip as fast as he can outmaneuver a snarling prosecutor. Acclaimed author David Rosenfelt's first novel, was nominated for an Edgar Award, now in this new novel, the intrepid lawyer is thrust into the spotlight where he risks becoming a media victim...of the most fatal kind.

His streak of murder case acquittals made him a regular on cable talk shows. His recent $22 million inheritance bought him a dog rescue operation named the Tara Foundation after his own beloved golden retriever. Yet after turning down cases left and right, Andy Carpenter thinks he's facing a midlife crisis.

When a friend, a newspaper owner, calls in a favor and asks him to protect his star reporter, Andy is less than thrilled. His new client is Daniel Cummings, a journalist who is being used as a mouthpiece by a brutal serial killer. Things only get worse when Daniel is discovered near the body of the murderer's latest victim. And after Andy himself starts collecting anonymous death threats, he hears the news every defense lawyer dreads...and moves to within a dangerous keystroke of becoming tomorrow's obituary.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Rosenfelt's breezy crime confection, his third to feature Andy Carpenter (after 2003's First Degree), a serial killer who cuts off his victims' hands has been terrorizing the dog-loving lawyer's northern New Jersey turf. When the cops charge one of the murders to newspaperman Daniel Cummings, who's been receiving messages from the killer taunting the police, Andy and his legal team step up to the defense. The author writes like a guy relentlessly channel surfing, always on the move, never risking boredom. Of police fiber technician Donald Prescott, one of the many characters briefly met, he notes: "if you possess both a desire to be a cop and a self-preservation instinct, it's a good job to have. There is even less chance that Prescott will get shot at than the guy who draws the chalk outlines around bodies." When a Passaic police detective asks Andy what he was doing while his ex-cop girlfriend was beating up a bad guy ("Holding her purse?"), Andy thinks, "He knows nothing; the fact is that Laurie wasn't even carrying a purse that night. It was more of a handbag." The witty asides never stop. The novel may not have a single convincing dramatic moment, but the tricks and turns before the resolution provide a fun rollercoaster ride.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Wisecracking defense attorney Andy Carpenter takes on his third unwinnable case in this thoroughly winning series. Antsy about reporter Daniel Cummings' exclusive contact with a serial killer who is strangling Jersey girls and removing their hands, the local newspaper editor retains Andy in case any legal issues should arise. Say, murder? Cummings is caught red-handed with the severed appendages of the latest victim, a local politician, and the prosecutor has plenty of hard evidence to suggest they've got their man. Miscellaneous complications with cold- and hot-blooded killers ensue, as the plot careens around various turns, but the real charm of this series lies in the wit of its affable narrator, who is not about to let an ongoing capital trial keep him from walking his beloved golden retriever, betting the point spread, or losing on the stock market. Add to this a likable supporting cast and a low-key love interest, and you have the legal-thriller genre's waggish rejoinder to Anthony Bruno and Janet Evanovich. A sure bet. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Listen & Live Audio; Abridged edition (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593160259
• ISBN-13: 978-1593160258
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,229,901 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Rosenfelt, a native of Paterson, New Jersey, is a graduate of NYU. He was the former marketing president for Tri-Star Pictures before becoming a writer of novels and screenplays. "Open And Shut" was his first novel; "First Degree," his second novel, was named a best book of 2003 by Publishers Weekly. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife and 35 dogs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lightweight Entertainment, July 13, 2004

By 

Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bury the Lead (Today Show Book Club #24) (Hardcover)

David Rosenfelt is an easy author to like. His prose is light, casual, and witty, neither pretentious nor self-important. Kind of like Rosenfelt's defense lawyer-hero, Andy Carpenter, who stars again in "Bury the Lead". Andy is back with the usual cast of supporting characters: girlfriend/PI Laurie Collins, "Law-dromat" owner and hypochondriac Kevin Randall, and of course Tara, the golden retriever. "Bury" is again set in the northern New Jersey suburbs that Rosenfelt knows so well ("The Giants and the Jets play football in Jersey, yet they deny its existence, referring to themselves as `New York'"). Daniel Cummings, a high profile reporter with some baggage, is chosen by a fiendish serial killer as a conduit to the police, but soon finds himself as the number one suspect. Carpenter and team are initially reluctant, but eventually are convinced of his innocence and take on Cummings' defense. What follows is a relatively lightweight plot that, just when starting to stretch and fray around the edges, moves along quickly enough satisfy all but the most critical cases of A.D.D. There are a couple of twists to hold mild interest, but not so much as to make this a novel you'll remember three months from now. But Rosenfelt's likeable cast and breezy pace more than compensate any weaknesses in the action, and a surprisingly light tone, despite the rather gruesome subject matter, is a refreshing twist in itself.

I suspect that the first-time Rosenfeld reader may find "Bury the Lead" somewhat more enjoyable than will the Rosenfelt veteran, as the Andy-Laurie-Tara act begins to wear a bit thin on this the third installment. Nonetheless, "Bury the Lead" is a credible and entertaining effort, well worth the time. One word of caution: at 272 pages of large print, this is a short read - don't plan on using it for filler on too long a flight.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Winner!, June 22, 2004

By 

Jude (Sunriver, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bury the Lead (Today Show Book Club #24) (Hardcover)

I was not disappointed with Rosenfelt's new book. Like the previous two, it was a fast and very interesting read with a good plot twist. This is not Robert Ludlum material- but if you're looking for a good weekend/beach type read, this is it. Love his writing style- reminds me of Nelson De Mille's style in "Gold Coast". I'm also a Golden Retriever Rescue volunteer, so I love the way the author gets the word out.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't bury this book - read it!, February 18, 2005

By 

Nancy R. Katz "NancyK18" (NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bury the Lead (Today Show Book Club #24) (Hardcover)

Bury the Lead is the third book in a series featuring lawyer Andy Carpenter. Andy is up to the same old things now that he's inherited 22 million dollars which was the basis for the plot of his first book Open and Shut. Andy walks his dog Tara, spends time with his girlfriend Laurie, helps out at the Tara Foundation, a placement center for stray dogs rescued from death and occassionally represents a clinet in court. He also spends a great deal of time with a circle of friends whose antics along with Andy kept me laughing till I was crying.

But times are tense in the area of New Jersey where Andy lives.
Recently there have been three women who have been brutally murdered and there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the murders since the women are totally unrelated to one another in every way. Then a young reporter captures the attention of the killer and is being fed information as to what has happened and will happen next. As the police scramble to find the serial killer, a fourth woman is found brutally murdered in the same fashion and this time the killer has struck a prominent state official from New Jersey. Almost no time goes by before an arrest is made and the person charged is the least likely suspect readers can imagine. Andy is then asked to represent the alleged murderer and as usual there is bound to be some tense moments till the murders are solved and the real murderer is brought to justice.

I really enjoyed this book as I did the other two in this series.
I especially love Andy's sense of humor and wit. I highly recommend this series adn now look forward to the fourth title
which will be available this spring.