Author David Rosenfelt's hero, Andy Carpenter, plunges into a high-profile murder case with a golden retriever as his key witness.

Still reeling after the death of his former lover, criminal defense lawyer Henry Rios unwisely falls for a young actor whom he had successfully defended on trumped-up burglary charges. But just hours after a date with Rios, the man is brutally murdered -- and the trail of circumstantial evidence leads an unscrupulous police detective to Rios' doorstep. And when a second young man, and then a third, are found dead, Rios must fight not only to exonerate...

Two carefree pals (Macchio and Whitfield) traveling through Alabama are mistakenly arrested, and charged with murder. Fortunately, Vincent Gambini (Pesci) is the cousin of one of them and he is a lawyer. Vinny is a former auto mechanic from Brooklyn who just passed his bar exam after his sixth try and has never been in court. When cousin Vinny arrives with his leather-clad girlfriend (Tomei) to handle his first case, it's a real shock - for both Vinny...

Cheroot-smoking Horace Rumpole, is a career trial lawyer at London's central court. Rumpole faces an open-and-shut case, which he plans to wrap up by noon. But once he discerns the telling secret of his teenage client, he smells victory and mounts a full-on defense.