Legal

Another interesting story with a good mix of humor and outrage. Maybe it could use more T-shirts, but it had a few good ones. OK, lest you think I'm crazy, I'm talking about his partner who likes to wear humorous T-shirts a lot, seemingly only once for each one. For example, there was one good one in this book that said "Haikus can be easy./But sometimes they don’t make sense./Refrigerator."

This book was similar to many other ones in that an innocent person becomes entangled with the police and arrested; things begin to look really bad, and there is danger that they might be found guilty. Then Hardy pulls one out of his hat and gets them off. It also demonstrates a problem I've seen in a lot of books, which probably happens in real life too. Once the police find someone they like for a crime, they stop looking for alternative suspects or facts. They start using a faulty logic where they start with a false premise: this person is guilty. Therefore, they interpret all new information in that context, and ignore anything that doesn't fit. At worst, they start leading witnesses by coloring their testimony to match their view of the facts, until an innocent person becomes a monster. This is one of the reasons I oppose the death penalty. ( )

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13155314

Dismas Hardy is hired as a precaution when Maya Townshend, owner of the Bay Beans West coffee shop in the Haight-Ashbury district, is questioned about the murder of the manager of her store. She does start to look like she's hiding something rather early. Why was she paying the dead guy, Dylan Vogler, 90K a year? What was their relationship really? Why did she go to the shop early the morning he was shot?

Dismas hires a private detective firm to investigate Maya's past. She isn't being forthcoming and she acts like she's guilty, and he thinks there is something from years ago that is the real issue. She admits she knew Vogler in college, in her wilder years.

Complicating the picture is that Vogler had a backpack filled with weed when he was killed. Police inspectors quickly discover quite a marijuana farm in his attic. Did the drugs have anything to do with his death? While selling weed would not cause a big ruckus to the SF cops, it might interest federal agents, reasons one of the investigators. Perhaps by pulling some strings that way, Maya could be encouraged to reveal more than she has.

Maya is the wife of a prominent realtor and has no need of any additional wealth. She is also related to the mayor. Will the mayor's influence make things worse or better? Will there even be any influence?

Clearly a story made for the media, so Hardy is especially interested in what Maya may be hiding. Did she kill Vogler? If so, for what reason?

Decently paced, well-written legal thriller. Much of the story is hammered out in the courtroom, Perry Mason style. ( )

I had forgotten how much I like legal thrillers until I read John Lescroart’s A PLAGUE OF SECRETS.
The basic plot was straight forward: Dylan Vogler, the manager of a popular San Francisco coffee shop was killed. He was wearing a backpack, filled with marijuana. Maya Townshend, the wealthy, beautiful, politically connect absentee owner of the coffee shop claimed she knew nothing about the pot but she had been paying the manager an excessively high salary.
In order to find the murderer, the police looked for the usual: motive, means, and opportunity. Maya quickly became their prime, and later, only suspect, especially when someone else she knew was killed.
Dismas Hardy was her defense attorney but found Maya less than cooperative, especially about her relationship to Dylan. He believed the prosecutors were hiding information and the judge was biased. The struggle to prove that 1 (motive) plus 1 (means) plus 1 (opportunity) don’t necessarily add up to a single solution (Maya’s guilt), kept him busy to the end of the trial and the book. His best friend, Homicide Lieutenant Abe Glitsky, was not as helpful as he usually is because of an accident involving his young son.
A PLAGUE OF SECRETS briefly mentioned problems faced by homeless people. It repeated the aphorism, “The essence of fascism is to make laws forbidding everything and then enforce them selectively against your enemies.” And it explained why innocent people sometimes will plead out: If they answer, they might say something and later be charged with perjury. If they don’t answer, they may be charged with civil contempt and sent to jail. If the person didn’t know about the crime but had a reason to know but didn’t act, the charge could be deliberate ignorance. Even if acquitted in federal court, if convicted of even one thing, perjury, can be sentenced up to maximum of acquitted charge with no chance of parole. In other words, damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
A PLAGUE OF SECRETS is a well-written page turner that kept me up until 4:15 AM. ( )

Lescroat's latest book is a full of action and suspense. Being from California, I love reading the mysteries that take place in places that I am familiar with, and San Francisco is one of those places. This book contains mystery, suspense and good characterization, though not as deep as many of his novels. San Francisco is a great place for this adventure, especially as Lescroat weaves in the local color with different food offerings, the scenery and with hilly and curved streets, bayside scenes and some history of the area.

Dismas Hardy is the prominent lawyer working with Abe Glitsky who is the head of San Francisco's homicide department. He becomes the attorney for Maya Townsend, a wife and mother that comes from a well to do family who is accused of not one but two murders, along with the using and selling of pot. Her weapon is found at one of the scenes and some blackmail is involved.

There are several sub plots that never seem to connect well for me but I do like following the antics and the way Hardy gets involved in his investigations. Although this is not one of the strongest of Lescroat’s books, it is worth reading if you are at all acquainted with is characters. ( )