Muzzled by David Rosenfelt, Series: An Andy Carpenter Novel (#21)

Andy is a lawyer who wishes he wasn't one.  But when his good friend Beth, asks for his help, he can't say no.  Especially when a dead man is coming after his dog...

Minotaur Books and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It has already been published so you can get a copy now.

Three men who worked together were going out on a boat owned by one of them to talk about setting up their own pharmaceutical business.  Two are shot, one hides.  Then he hears them say the boat is going to blow up, so once they are gone he sneaks out and escapes on his dingy.  He doesn't trust the cops and thinks he has killers on his trail, so he goes further down the waterway and sneaks out.  When he comes to get his dog, the cops nab him.

He asks Andy to represent him and he agrees because he doesn't think he's a killer.  Then Andy calls in the rest of the team and they start searching for information.  It turns out that the man in jail was dating a bigwig's girlfriend.  She forgot to mention that.  So they take a look at Russo.  He may hire killers but he's not a killer himself.

Then two of Russo's men get killed with a single shot to the back of the head.  Who did it?  Big Tony says it was Victor.  He's the next one found dead.

Victor doesn't care how many he kills.  He's part of the Russian Mafia.  He even snipes the prisoner when he's brought to court.  Now Andy and his crew are after him...