Amazing, isn't it? DOG DAY AFTERNOON is David Rosenfelt's 29th entry in his Andy Carpenter mystery series. And I've read either 27 or 28 of them. (It's hard to remember because they appear so quickly one after another, and Rosenfelt is so prolific.) Yet, even though the same cast of characters peoples every single mystery, and even though the novels all have the same basic structure, I consistently look forward to reading the next one. And I am never disappointed. Each one inspires, or even forces, laugh-out-loud responses from its readers. Including me.

But of course, laughs during the reading of a mystery are not sufficient motivation to read a novel. Rosenfelt always provides equal parts suspense, surprise and puzzlement during Andy's investigations as he proceeds, on behalf of his wrongfully accused clients, to solve the murder or murders at hand, thereby proving their innocence. And if his defense fails (heaven forbid), they may face life imprisonment or even execution.

"Despite the complexities of the plot and the conspiracy it reveals, our attention as readers never waivers.... May Andy live and prosper, and may he continue to save his clients forever and ever --- or until his fans get tired of his methods and madness. Which will happen never."

In DOG DAY AFTERNOON, Andy is aided, as usual, by his cast of crazy but dedicated characters: his beautiful and tough investigator wife, Laurie; her partners, Corey Douglas and his police dog, Simon Garfunkel (not kidding); Sam, the octogenarian accountant-computer expert who can hack his way into any info that Andy needs regardless of legality or lack of same (Sam is happy to do so; the more illegal, the merrier); and, among several others, Marcus Clark, investigator par-excellence who procures needed information not via computer savviness but simply by beating to a bloody pulp anyone who stubbornly refuses to cooperate with Andy's investigation.

Marcus is Andy's forever-protector, a stronger-than-Superman hero (no kryptonite problem) who, quite obviously, has never lost a fight and never will. But Marcus' usual comments to Andy about a case add up to statements like "Nuh, nuh, ugh, nug, yuh." In this installment, however, Marcus finally speaks actual English because the innocent suspect, a young Black man named Nick Williams, is virtually a student at "Marcus School." Marcus has tutored him, mentored him and gotten him a good job.

And so we arrive at the plot. Nick has been working at a popular law office that has been doing incredible business, mainly as the prosecution group in medical malpractice lawsuits. They often win millions of dollars for the families of victims of inexcusable errors committed by hospital staff members and surgeons. But one day, while Nick has taken a day off, a masked gunman enters the office and kills six of Nick's coworkers. The murderer is wearing unusual shoes just like Nick's; his voice sounds a lot like Nick's; and both survivors identify Nick as the killer. They point out that Nick's recent request for a raise had been rejected by the head man, which has made him angry. Motive established.

To top off all those suspicion-inducing facts, the murder weapon --- a pistol --- is found in a trash can near Nick's home, replete with his fingerprints. But Marcus is convinced that the young man is innocent, that he could not have committed such a heinous crime, and that he has been set up by some very sophisticated person or persons. Andy believes that Marcus is correct. As all the members of Andy's team take on the investigation, it becomes increasingly evident that a complex conspiracy has been carefully instituted and executed to kill all those attorneys and point the police to Nick.

It's complicated. But Andy and company slowly and efficiently unravel the knot of tangled clues. They prove (to themselves, at least) that certain evil and vicious people built a conspiracy to commit the mass murder. So they have determined many of the "whos" in the whodunit. But the motives, the methods and especially the incontrovertible evidence that is needed in Nick's upcoming trial all remain a mystery. So Andy, his allies and poor Nick are in a nearly impossible position as the trial approaches and ultimately takes place. Will the jury believe the prosecutor's common-sense closing arguments, or will they accept Andy's contention --- with some relatively convincing evidence --- that Nick was cleverly set up and is innocent?

Despite the complexities of the plot and the conspiracy it reveals, our attention as readers never waivers. It's Rosenfelt's near-magical combination of suspense and his wonderfully witty dialogue. It's Andy's self-deprecating but biting humor, confidently sprinkled generously upon both friends and foes, as well as his boasts (for example, of his own overwhelming obnoxiousness), that keep us happily riveted time and again. May Andy live and prosper, and may he continue to save his clients forever and ever --- or until his fans get tired of his methods and madness. Which will happen never.