SANTA'S LITTLE YELPERS

Andy Carpenter, that ornament of the Paterson bar, is dragged out of semiretirement yet again by a friend’s formidable legal troubles.

Before he joined the Tara Foundation, Andy’s dog-rescue organization, disbarred attorney Chris Myers served 14 months for killing Joey Bonaventura in a bar fight he was too drunk to remember. No sooner has Charlie Burgess, the star witness against Chris, admitted he was lying than he recants his admission and is found shot to death under circumstances that broadly hint that Chris killed him. Andy, of course, never wants to work, but he can’t say no to Chris. So he sics the members of the K Team on the case. A preliminary review of the legal matters Chris worked on before his law firm let him go produces four cases that might have motivated a double frame-up. The most promising of them is also the most puzzling: Chris’ work on behalf of the citizens of Metuska, Pennsylvania, whose properties were being seized by the local government under the rules of eminent domain. Since the city paid top dollar for the properties and seemed to make no use of them once they were confiscated, Andy can find no reason for the municipal misbehavior. It’s a good thing that his mystification redoubles his commitment to the case, because Chris needs all the help he can get. The climactic revelation, as in all of Andy’s best cases, is both head-shakingly incredible and deeply satisfying.

Not many dogs, even less about Christmas, but this holiday package still delivers the goods.