In a multiple murder case plagued by lies and deception, there is one terrible secret that defense attorney Dismas Hardy is duty-bound to protect. Even if the price is his client's life.
When Dylan Vogler, the charming manager of the popular Bay Beans West coffee shop in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, is gunned down near the store, inspectors are shocked to discover that his knapsack is overflowing with high-grade marijuana. It soon becomes clear that San Francisco's A-list flocked to Bay Beans West for more than a pricy caffeine fix.
Maya Townshend is the absentee owner of the shop—and the beautiful and extremely wealthy socialite niece of the city's mayor. When she becomes Dismas Hardy's client, he thinks it will be a simple hand-holding exercise until the police identify a suspect. But then another of Maya's past acquaintances turns up murdered, and the newspapers begin to reveal the names of the coffee shop's celebrity, political, and even law-enforcement clientele. Hardy begins to question how much his client knew about what was actually going on inside her business—and whether she was also Vogler's lover.
All the while Hardy's best friend, homicide lieutenant Abe Glitsky, sick with worry over his severely injured youngest child, barely functions at his job. Without his supervision, his inspectors are prey to the machinations of the many power brokers with interests in the case. Ambitious prosecutors close in on Maya, and as her trial gets under way, Hardy discovers that his client harbors an explosive secret. A secret that Dismas Hardy is privilege-bound to protect.
Perceptive, fast-paced, and masterfully plotted, A Plague of Secrets represents John Lescroart working at the absolute top of his game.
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"An accident involving his three year old son puts Abe Glitsky in a dazed stupor so when a manager of SF coffee shop is found murdered, the normal counsel and attention he pays to his homicide crew is missing. Dismas becomes the attorney for the owner of the shop, Maya Townshend, when she is questioned by the police in connection with said murder, at the behest of her brother, Harlan Fisk. Brother and sister are also the neice and nephew of the mayor. I thought Maya was annoying and Harlan was on my radar for awhile but the twist at the end is so much better. Loved the interaction between all the characters in this fast-paced plot."
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Jan (4 out of 5 stars)