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Sudden Death

by David Rosenfelt

Sudden Death is number four in David Rosenfelt's murder mystery series featuring Andy Carpenter, the New Jersey lawyer. I've always found Mr. Rosenfelt's first person writing a refreshing change, and the character of Andy Carpenter gets better and more well-rounded with each novel. David Rosenfelt writes like a pot coming to the boil – only in this case the bubbles are his underlying humor. Mr. Rosenfelt's knowledge and experience in writing for the movies has served him well, and his novels are lucid, factual, and engrossing. Three cheers and a big plus for Sudden Death – or as a teenager might say – it's a real bomb!

Sudden Death opens with Andy Carpenter and his black friend Willie Miller getting off the plane at the Los Angeles airport. The very first paragraph is a fine example of what's to follow as David Rosenfelt plies his trade. Andy and Willie are in L.A. to sign contracts that will turn Willie's story and Andy's brilliant defense of him into a feature film.

That accomplished, they return to their hometown of Paterson, New Jersey – only to have Andy summoned immediately Kenny Schilling's new house. Kenny is a recent black football star who has barricaded himself into his house with the corpse of another football star in one of his closets. The house is surrounded by police, and Kenny is only willing to talk to Andy.

Kenny is naturally charged with the murder, and it's only gradually that Andy comes to believe his innocence. But all the major evidence seems to point in the direction of his guilt. Everything that Andy uncovers could add to the prosecution's case, even though Carpenter increasingly believes Kenny was set up.

The sub-plot concerns Andy's involvement with Laurie, Andy's girlfriend, and the decision she has to make about returning to Findlay, her hometown. Findlay is a good plane ride away from Paterson, and since Andy wants to remain in Paterson, which is his own hometown, any decision of Laurie's to return will mean a permanent separation.

Pursuit of the truth about Kenny Schilling brings in the New Jersey mob as well as a new Mexican drug lord, who is first out to beat up Andy and finally to eliminate him. He's protected, however, by Marcus, one of the investigators on his team. Marcus is a man of few words and violent, sudden action. One doesn't mess with people like Marcus.

Adam Strickland has flown from Los Angeles to get more background on Andy while writing the script for Andy and Willie's movie. To accomplish this, he wants to become involved in Andy's present case in order to see how Andy works. Adam proves to be an excellent investigator himself, but is murdered in the process of uncovering new clues which would help Andy defend Kenny Schilling. Then it's up to Andy and his team to discover what Adam was working on while at the computer, where all the files have been deleted.

The final evidence given at the trial and Laurie's decision come almost on top of one another – but that's nothing to David Rosenfelt's wallop in the last pages of the book. Sudden Death is a fine example of how a good murder mystery should be written.

Alan Paul Curtis

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