In THE MORE THE TERRIER, the 30th entry in David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter mystery series, the dog plays an important role in the unfolding of the plot.

Murphy, apparently a Yorkie mix, shows up out of nowhere at Andy's house and is soon recognized as a little guy whom Andy and his family and friends had rescued sometime before his new appearance at their doorstep. They remember the family who had adopted him, and they return him to the Bremers' home. Mrs. Bremer is thrilled to have him back, yet she is terribly sad. Her son, BJ, has been arrested for murder.

Back we go to the novel's opening pages, whence the murder has taken place. On page one, we meet Steven Rayburn, a troubled computer genius who is a guest research professor at Rutgers University. He has made a difficult decision that he suspects has placed him in danger. We know that he'll be dead by page three because this is, after all, an Andy Carpenter mystery. And the murder victim, often the first character introduced, never lasts for long. In this one, Rayburn is smashed in the head with a metal statuette and is gone in one-and-a-half pages.

"As always, reading a new Andy Carpenter mystery is a joyful, bumpy and suspenseful rollercoaster of a ride.... Andy is the ideal fictional character to take up the classic mantle of Peter Falk's dearly departed and beloved Lieutenant Columbo."

It's time for attorney Andy and his staff to take over BJ's case, to find the real perpetrator, and to prove the boy's innocence. As always, that end is far more difficult to achieve than it is to simply talk about. BJ had been found in the professor's home, standing over the body, holding the statuette and covered in blood. It seems to be an open-and-shut case for the prosecution.

The investigation involves other Rutgers personnel, at least one Mafia-type character, common hoodlums and scam artists, a very large and scary Russian hitman, and, perhaps most importantly, an introduction to the metaverse and those who participate therein. That factor exposes us to the ins and outs, wonders and dangers, and brilliance of the metaverse world, a fascinating universe about which most of us know absolutely nothing. Rosenfelt's descriptions of the phenomenon offer us new and exciting information to explore while we enjoy the usual self-deprecating humor that characterizes Andy's first-person narration, the light but always plot-significant dialogue, and the mystery itself, which finds our unwilling hero in a life-threatening situation as the climax approaches and comes crashing to a thrilling conclusion.

And we must not fail to mention the plot twists we experience as we join Andy's team in the process of discovering and analyzing the clues, all the while determining who really did it. As always, reading a new Andy Carpenter mystery is a joyful, bumpy and suspenseful rollercoaster of a ride.

I'm often struck by one overriding question as I read, enjoy and review these adventures. Why has the series never been picked up by producers of streaming TV series for about a five-year run of the 30 or so Andy Carpenter episodes? The fascinating cast of colorful characters, the uniquely humorous narratives, the creative plot twists and turns, and the suspense engendered by the investigations and trials would seem to offer a set of absolutely delicious ingredients for binge-watching appetites. And I think Andy is the ideal fictional character to take up the classic mantle of Peter Falk's dearly departed and beloved Lieutenant Columbo. Food for thought.