John Lescroart, Plague of Secrets

Plague of Secrets

John Lescroart

Dutton, Jun 30 2009, $26.95

ISBN 9780525950929

In San Francisco, an unknown sniper shoots and kills Bay Beans West coffee shop manager Dylan Volger. The police find Dylan carrying marijuana and growing weed in his home; they also find his clientele includes highly placed local politicians.

The cops suspect the Haight-Ashbury coffee shop owner, Maya Townshend as the culprit. Besides being the niece of the city's mayor and her sister being a city supervisor, Maya was paying her ex-convict manager an exorbitant salary to run a coffee shop. The investigators Bracco and Schiff think she tired to kill her former college lover to end his blackmailing of her related to his marijuana sales that U.S. District attorney Jerry Glass insists paid for her expensive home as she was the senior weed mover. Glass sees a boost to his career especially if he adds asset forfeiture to convicting her. Defense attorney Dismas Hardy defends his client whom the media has hung as a drug dealing adulteress killer on two murder counts, drug dealing and more based on motive and no physical evidence.

This is a terrific Hardy-Glitsky tale with several exciting subplots including Abe's son in a coma and the cop being at the courtroom for a final sort of like Perry Mason twist (without the confession) from out of the headlines in Georgia. The story line is fast-paced, but it is the characters especially the plausible support cast to include the two murder victims who turn PLAGUE OF SECRETS into a super legal thriller.

Harriet Klausner