The group of detectives known as the K Team is named after Simon Garfunkel, the dog. As the "K" might indicate, Simon was a K-9 "officer" along with his handler, Corey Douglas. They are still partners but have since retired from the Paterson police force and now work with Laurie Collins and Marcus Clark solving cold cases.

Laurie and Marcus are known to readers of both this series and the Andy Carpenter books. Laurie, also a former member of the force, is Andy's wife. Marcus Clark, a scarily competent investigator and protector whose powerful athleticism more than compensates for his lack of loquaciousness, provides the "muscle."

"[B]e careful lest you be suckered into falling for the most obvious suspect. Things are literally and figuratively not what they appear to be."

As per his usual MO, David Rosenfelt starts with a homicide. Danny Avery is investigating something, but the police don’t know about it as he's waiting for what he will learn while staking out a location. He's listening to audio from a planted microphone, and it's being recorded on his phone. But he's shot and his phone is stolen, which is not going to help him or anyone else who might want to solve his murder.

The team suspects that the shooting is connected to what happened to Danny’s wife, Susan, and Corey's mentor at the department, Jimmy Dietrich. Their bodies were pulled from the Passaic River, and their deaths were initially labeled a murder/suicide. But Corey doesn't believe that Jimmy would be capable of committing such a heinous act.

Corey is the first-person narrator. Interspersed occasionally is a narrative about one of the criminals, which adds another layer of mystery because we have to figure out how that person is tied to all the seemingly unrelated crimes. There are suspects galore, including the thugs who clearly are hired by the masterminds to try to harm Corey when he gets too close to the heart of the matter. Filled with action and a web of intrigue, the novel once again demonstrates Rosenfelt's ability to juggle many trails that inevitably lead to the heart of the criminal enterprise.

This is not a mystery that can be read while doing something else. There are too many names, motives and strands that demand your complete attention. Also, be careful lest you be suckered into falling for the most obvious suspect. Things are literally and figuratively not what they appear to be. So, get ready to put the clues together and think outside the box with GOOD DOG, BAD COP. Spoiler: there really isn't a bad cop.