Kathleen C. (Woodchuck) reviewed on 7/18/2005 + 83 more book reviews

Those of us who have reveled in the discovery of this author and his Dismas Hardy/Abe Glitsky novels have been with these two old friends for a long time and through some hair raising and heart breaking times. Hardy, who once was a San Francisco cop is now the managing partner of his San Francisco law firm. Glitsky who was a homicide detective for the SFPD is now a Deputy Chief. Yet, for all their lofty current positions, they are dragged into a compelling drama by the events that are going on around them.

Amy Wu is an associate in Hardy's firm. She is dealing the the four month old death of her father by looking for love in all the wrong places when she receives a call from a wealthy couple who's son she has represented in a minor juvenile matter to inform her that "Andrew is in trouble again." That, it turns out, is an understatement.

It seems that Andrew was rehearsing for the school play with the teacher who was directing the play and with his girlfriend. The play is "Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf." Andrew and his girlfriend have the leads. While taking a break from rehearsing, Andrew takes a break to go for a walk to work on his lines. When he returns he finds them both shot to death.

Two months later the police have decided to charge him with murder. His parents (actually Mom and Step-Dad) are horrified. "He said he didn't do it," says Mom. "I know he didn't do it." ..."Andrew is not that type of person."

After reviewing the police evidence Amy Wu is not so sure. It turns out that in the past Andrew expressed jealosy of Mr. Mooney, the teacher and his relationship with his girlfriend. He even wrote a short story entitled "Perfect Killer" in which he details how a young man who is jealous of his girlfriend and a teacher plots to murder them and how he does it in such a way as to avoid guilt. He shares the story with his best friend at school. He even starts to bring his step father's gun to school with him in a knapsack. Then there is the yelling and arguing that those living over Mr. Mooney's apartment hear along with crashing and banging down below. When they look out of the window to see what is happening, the husband sees a person he later idetifies as Andrew fleeing the apartment. He then goes down and discovers the vitims. Doesn't look so good for Andrew.

Especially after the police find a spent 9mm shell in his car. Especially after he admits to throwing the gun he had been carrying around off the Golden Gate Bridge.

In fact, it looks so bad to Amy that she tries to get him to plead guilty to the offense as a juvenile. He will be in jail for only eight years under California law if convicted as a juvenile. She convinces the parents that this is the best way to go and she convinces herself. The one little detail that she fails to cover is convincing her client. Her next error is to tell the Assistant DA that he will plead before she has gotten that nailed down. It all becomes unraveled in juvenile court as the client maintains his innocense and Ms. Wu quickly finds herself in the cross hairs of an angry judge and a furious district attorney. The matter is quickly calendared for a hearing on whether he should be tried as a juvenile or an adult and the outcome looks forgone. Her client, instead of facing eight years will likely be facing life.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Glitsky is having his own problems with his new job and is embroiled with a high profile decision not to take a known murderer off a bus, but to wait until the passengers disembark and arrest him then. Quick and easy. Except the target smells the police and takes the passengers hostage, killing several before his demands for a helicopter and transportaion are met. He is killed by a sniper on the way to the copter, but the media is merciless in pursuing the matter.

As a part of his job, Glitsky becomes aware of a murder where a woman without an enemy in the world is gunned down as she answers her front door. The husband is the only possible suspect, but that is going nowhere. Glitsky decides to talk to him and is also convinced that the husband is innocent. The only thing out of the ordinary that the woman ever did in her life was be a part of a jury many years ago who had convicted a person for murder.

Shortly thereafter, the District Attorney is found murdered in the parking lot outside of his office.

Dismas Hardy feels that he is responsible for the mess that Amy Wu has created by failing to mentor her properly and decides to sit "second chair" in the deternmination hearing that has been ordered to go forward in five days.

To tell more about the story line would be to spoil the fun of reading a master story teller at the top of his game. Suffice it to say that the stories converge and the ending is all that a reader of this type of novel could ask for. I look forward to Lescroat's novels and if you have not discovered him yet, it is high time you did.

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