David Rosenfelt is a novelist with 27 dogs.
I have gotten to this dubious position with absolutely no planning, and at no stage in my life could I have predicted it. But here I am.
My childhood was relentlessly normal. The middle of three brothers, loving parents, a middle-class home in Paterson, New Jersey. We played sports, studied sporadically. laughed around the dinner table, and generally had a good time. By comparison, “Ozzie and Harriet’s” clan seemed bizarre.
I graduated NYU, then decided to go into the movie business. I was stunningly brilliant at a job interview with my uncle, who was President of United Artists, and was immediately hired. It set me off on a climb up the executive ladder, culminating in my becoming President of Marketing for Tri-Star Pictures. The movie landscape is filled with the movies I buried; for every “Rambo”, “The Natural” and “Rocky”, there are countless disasters.
I did manage to find the time to marry and have two children, both of whom are doing very well, and fortunately neither have inherited my eccentricities.
A number of years ago, I left the movie marketing business, to the sustained applause of hundreds of disgruntled producers and directors. I decided to try my hand at writing. I wrote and sold a bunch of feature films, none of which ever came close to being actually filmed, and then a bunch of TV movies, some of which actually made it to the small screen. It’s safe to say that their impact on the American cultural scene has been minimal.
About fourteen years ago, my wife and I started the Tara Foundation, named in honor of the greatest Golden Retriever the world has ever known. We rescued almost 4,000 dogs, many of them Goldens, and found them loving homes. Our own home quickly became a sanctuary for those dogs that we rescued that were too old or sickly to be wanted by others. They surround me as I write this. It’s total lunacy, but it works, and they are a happy, safe group.
Books in order of publication:
Standalone Fiction
Don’t Tell A Soul, 2008, Minotaur Books
Down to the Wire, 2010, Minotaur Books,
On Borrowed Time, 2011, Minotaur Books,
Heart of a Killer, 2012, Minotaur Books,
Airtight, 2013, Minotaur Books,
Without Warning, 2014, Minotaur Books,
Andy Carpenter series
Open and Shut, 2002, Grand Central Publishing
Finalist for the Edgar Award and the Shamus Award for best first novel.
First Degree, 2003, Grand Central Publishing,
Bury the Lead, 2004, Grand Central Publishing
Selection of the NBC Today Book Club.
Sudden Death, 2005, Mysterious Press,
Dead Center, 2006, Mysterious Press,
Play Dead, 2007, Grand Central Publishing,
New Tricks, 2009, Grand Central Publishing,
Dog Tags, 2010, Grand Central Publishing,
One Dog Night, 2011, Minotaur Books,
Leader of the Pack, 2012, Minotaur Books,
Unleashed, 2013, Minotaur Books,
Hounded, 2014, Minotaur Books,
Who Let the Dog Out?, 2015, Minotaur Books,
Outfoxed, 2016, Minotaur Books,
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas, 2017, Minotaur Books,
Collared, 2017, Minotaur Books,
Rescued, 2018, Minotaur Books,
Deck the Hounds, 2018, Minotaur Books,
Bark of Night, 2019, Minotaur Books,
Dachshund Through the Snow, 2019, Minotaur Books,
Muzzled, 2020, Minotaur Books,
Silent Bite, 2020, Minotaur Books,
Dog Eat Dog, 2021, Minotaur Books,
Best In Snow, 2021, Minotaur Books,
Holy Chow, 2022, Minotaur Books,
Santa’s Little Yelpers, 2022, Minotaur Books,
Flop Dead Gorgeous, 2023, Minotaur Books,
Twas the Bite Before Christmas, 2023, Minotaur Books,
The K Team
Andy Carpenter spinoff series.
The K Team, 2020, Minotaur Books,
Animal Instinct, 2021, Minotaur Books,
Citizen K-9, 2022, Minotaur Books,
Good Dog, Bad Cop, 2023, Minotaur Books,
Doug Brock series
Blackout, 2016, Minotaur Books,
Fade to Black, 2018, Minotaur Books,
Black and Blue, 2019, Minotaur Books,
Nonfiction
Dogtripping: 25 Rescues, 11 Volunteers, and 3 RVs on Our Canine Cross-Country Adventure, 2013, St. Martin’s Press,
Lessons from Tara: Life Advice from the World’s Most Brilliant Dog, 2015, St. Martin’s Press,
Oak Lawn Library Friends 