“Bark Humbug,” author David Rosenfelt’s “Andy Carpenter Mystery” number 34, is every bit as entertaining, suspenseful, and funny as each of the preceding titles in the series. In other words, readers are virtually guaranteed a terrifically good time. But there’s more good news: in my carefully considered opinion, “Bark Humbug” offers us even more beautiful features than the earlier entries — funnier funny stuff, more suspenseful suspense, and some effective new techniques that add to our enjoyment of every page.

There are, for example, some “in jokes” that actually made me laugh out loud. Included are Andy Carpenter’s spicy opinions about his wife Laurie’s favorite author — David Rosenfelt. Can’t get more “inside” than that! And there are also some subtle political references that jump off the pages — to me, anyway. Consider the personality of the first-chapter murder victim, Paterson, New Jersey Mayor Craig Henley. He’s hoping to become governor of New Jersey, but he never will fulfill that ambition, of course, because he’s murdered, as is one of his large donors. They’re both shot and killed just outside the site of a town hall meeting during which the mayor had discussed some of his controversial beliefs and proposals. Henley’s character and career reveal fascinating parallels to a certain real-life New York politician who eventually “suffered” the unfortunate event of hair dye running down his face in the middle of a speech.

Both Henley and that politician were prosecutors who had won big-time guilty verdicts and therefore became heroes in their cities. Both ran for mayor, and both won. Both ultimately were considered tough and unforgiving, rather extreme examples of ultra-conservative disrespect toward the unfortunates in American society. And both were accused of failing to give credit to those who worked effectively to earn those guilty verdicts that made the politicians famous and admired. Finally, both met unfortunate fates themselves. The real-life one was disbarred and had to withdraw from public service. The fictional one, Henley, was assassinated.

Still another new Rosenfelt technique is the practice of making disparaging but indirect criticisms of two very important occupations. Andy delivers a clever remark when responding to the troubles of folks with problems; those remarks amount to “Well, it’s better than being a criminal defense lawyer.” And he doubles down on that self-critical lack of occupational wisdom when he says later, “Well, it’s better than being a mystery writer.” Typical but always effective Rosenfelt humor, but a particular type that hasn’t often been utilized in previous Andy Carpenter novels.

And now to the unwinding of the plot, by the end of which we find some most unusual Rosenfelt twists that make this novel quite different from Andy’s usual climaxes and denouements. First event is the assassination of Mayor Henley and one of his campaign donors, Steven Tiller. A bit later, we learn that the main suspect in the murder case is a young man named Jon Lowery, a former employee in Henley’s office. Jon has a master’s degree in computer science. His wife had been murdered by a drug addict, after which he wanted to change the direction of his life, so he joined the Marines and became a member of the Special Forces. He developed PTSD, and after leaving the corps found a job as an IT manager at Mayor Henley’s office. Jon’s mission in life became his goal of helping drug addicts, and he learned pretty quickly that the mayor’s attitude toward addicts was in sharp contrast to his own. The mayor, it seemed, wanted to use the issue as a campaign strategy; addicts had to help themselves, and government had to stay away from addicts’ problems. They would be on their own.

So Jon went to the town hall in an ugly mood and angrily confronted and threatened the mayor. Then he left. He immediately became the prime suspect in the murders, and the accusation was exacerbated when it was learned that he had extensive training as a marksman, had become an expert at the skill, and looked more and more like the murderer. Then the prosecution became even more certain of his guilt when investigators discovered that the rifle used in the murders was the same model as one that Jon owned.

So Andy — unwillingly, of course — takes on Jon as a client. As usual, Andy’s case seems impossible to win. Jon looks as guilty as sin. Also as usual, Andy and his team get into all kinds of trouble with very dangerous mafia-type individuals and organizations and willingly place their own lives into desperate situations on Jon’s behalf. It’s often true in Andy’s adventures that, as it is in Jon’s case, it’s impossible to prove that the defendent is innocent. The defense must only convince the jury that there is reasonable doubt that the accused is, in fact, the murderer. So that is Andy’s mission. He displays his brilliance during Jon’s trial, but when the jury is sent to debate and decide the verdict, the process and the waiting are nerve-racking and extremely anxiety-causing, both for the client himself and for his legal defense team. But the post-trial events and revelations involve twists that we could not have expected. Very unusual surprises for Rosenfelt and Andy Carpenter fans. I felt that those twists made “Bark Humbug” even more compelling than some earlier entries in the series.

Reviewing Andy’s team’s investigative practices and techniques demonstrates once again that the humor and suspense created by Rosenfelt’s unique talents are only part of the whole picture. If we very carefully observe each Andy Carpenter novel, we become more and more aware that our personal identification with the novels’ characters and situations are powerful elements of our attraction to the novels.

We can easily identify with each character’s flaws and behaviors, such as : Andy’s self-deprecating comments as we see that his admitted character shortcomings are often our own, too; Andy’s secretary’s hilarious laziness and excuses very much like ours when we simply don’t feel like doing something we know darn well we should be doing; Andy’s dependence on his team and, again, his own weaknesses, reflecting our need to admit that in our most difficult times, we’d better get help from our friends — we NEED it; the realization that our most important decisions are so often filled with ambiguity, ambivalence, and contradictions that bedevil us, like Andy’s admission that he somehow both loves and hates his chosen profession; our realization that so often the end justifies the means even if we know down deep the means involve dishonesty and lies — think of Andy’s expert hacker, Sam, when Andy and Sam both know that Sam’s hacking is flagrantly illegal; or when Andy convinces an unwilling interviewee that Andy could drag him to court when that is, in fact, impossible; and, for me, anyway, the wish that I could be as quick and cutting and funny as Andy and his friends when they’re engaging in their mutually insulting repartee.

All those factors taken together demonstrate conclusively why Andy Carpenter fans always await the next Rosenfelt/Carpenter combination so happily and consistently. Rosenfelt gives us a magical formula of suspense, humor — and even self-realization. Can’t wait for the next one.

Read Jack’s reviews of past Andy Carpenter novels including “Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch,” and “And To All a Good Bite.”

REVIEW BY JACK KRAMER

This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.