Open and Shut

By: David Rosenfelt

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Whether dueling with new forensics or the local old boys' network, irreverent defense attorney Andy Carpenter always leaves them awed with his biting wit and winning fourth-quarter game plan.

But the fun stops the day Andy's dad, Paterson, New Jersey's legendary ex-DA, drops dead in front of him at a game in Yankee Stadium. The shocks pile on as he discovers his dad left him with two unexpected legacies: a fortune of $22 million that Andy never knew existed...and a murder case with enough racial tinder to burn down City Hall.

Struggling to serve justice and bring honor to his father, Andy must dig up some explosive political skeletons - and an astonishing family secret that can close his case (and his mouth) for good.

Crack another case with Andy Carpenter.

©2002 David Rosenfelt (P)2008 Listen & Live Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"As soon as readers finish this remarkable first novel, they will begin clamoring for a second Andy Carpenter adventure." ( Booklist)
"Brisk dialogue, careful plotting, and solid spadework." ( Kirkus Reviews)

totally enjoyable read

Narrator well matched to story. Perfect weekend read. Not taxing, but not dumb either. been looking for a series like this for a while --so glad to have stumbled on Andy Carpenter.

Too much sex for me

Good story, too much sex for me. Courtroom drama with twist. Not recommended for kids

Funny and mysterious

Would you consider the audio edition of Open and Shut to be better than the print version?

I bought this in the

What other book might you compare Open and Shut to and why?

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books and Harlan Coben's Simon Bolivar are in the same Genre... along with Gregory Macdonald's Fletch.

What about Grover Gardner???s performance did you like?

It was spot on, capturing the tone, accent, and range of emotions.

A good and clever story

I guess I just don't care for the voice of the narrator. He does a good job in terms of appropriate inflections and timing, but there's just something about his voice I found irritating the entire book. Fortunately, the story is good enough to have gotten me through the entire book.

Humor and Murder!

Love the story. Loved the main character, he's bitingly hilarious. I thought I had it figured out, but I kept reading and it had clever little twists. Very enjoyable.

Engaging mystery with a likable lawyer

Andy Carpenter is a criminal defense attorney with a high sense of ethics, a (now retired) prosecutor father whom he deeply admires, a broken marriage, a new girl friend, and a beautiful Golden Retriever, Tara, rescued from a kill shelter. He's enjoying his life.

Life is about to get much more interesting than he wants.

His father asks him to take on the appeal of a death penalty case he successfully prosecuted a few years ago. Willie Miller has been convicted, and sentenced to death, in the brutal murder of a reporter who was dating the son of a very wealthy local businessman. Nelson Carpenter has learned that one of the jurors lied during jury selection about something that would certainly have kept her off the jury; he's gotten this from a privileged source, but he can't just let it lie, either. Against his better judgment, Andy agrees to take on the appeal.

A few days later, Nelson Carpenter dies in front of his son, at a baseball game. And Andy discovers he has two unexpected legacies: $22 million that he never suspected his father had, and a picture of his father and three other men, taken thirty-five years ago. Just about the time his father acquired the $2 million which has since become $22 million, in fact.

Andy now has two mysteries to solve--what really happened the night the reporter was murdered, and how did his father come by the money that he never touched or mentioned.

What's worse, it looks like the two mysteries may be connected.

Andy is smart, sarcastic, a bit theatrical--a bit more theatrical than some judges like--and deeply, deeply ethical. He can't let either mystery go, even with the death threats start, and it looks like finding the source of the money may change what he thinks he knows about his father.

This is a fun, fast-paced, but thoughtful story, asking tough questions about ethics, honesty, and loyalty to family and friends.

Recommended.

I received this book as a gift from a friend.

Very good but not amazing.

I liked this book and thought it was very good. I especially liked the protagonists snarky interior dialogue and humor. I just thought the plot was a little too contrived. I don't want to give examples or too many details and spoil the plot and I do understand that this is not an epic novel with dozens and dozens of characters, but everything seemed to fit together a little too nicely for me. I also questioned some of the characters reactions to certain situations and wondered if they really would react that way. I did notice the jump/missing content others have pointed out but didn't think it made much of a difference.

Humor

Love the dry wit in these books. The author can turn a phrase that is very clever unique and original.

Great read

Loved the author's sense of humor and the narrator did a great job with a Jersey accent. Will get next book in series.

Excellent story

If you love a mystery wrapped in sardonic comedy this is the book for you