• Hostile Witness (1995).

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Darkness, Take My Hand
1996

It amazes me how I could have missed this great writer for so long. In this book, set in Boston, private investigators Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro are asked to investigate the possibility that members of the Irish Mafia are behind threats to a psychiatrist and her son. As the investigation progresses, the past gets dredged up when the most likely suspect seems to be someone who is in prison serving a life sentence. As the clues trickle in and tickle Patrick's childhood memories, a grisly picture emerges. This is a well-written and suspenseful book.

• Sacred
  U.S. Edition: Avon Paperback
  U.K. Edition: Bantam Paperback

  This book has Boston P.I.s Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro searching for the daughter of a dying billionaire, the disappearance of whom seems to have sucked another investigator into its vortex. Patrick wonders if nothing is what it seems when events point to a different reality than that presented by their client.

  While I can't say enough about his books, I could say too much. Try one and I bet you'll be reading all the others as soon as you can get your hands on them! (Reviewed 2/16/00.)

• Prayers for Rain
  1999
  U.S. Edition: William Morrow & Co. Hardcover
  U.K. Edition: Bantam Press Paperback

  Patrick Kenzie & Bubba Rogowski get to a stalker and convince him to stay away from Karen Nichols--or do they? Four months later, Kenzie hears a radio report of her death by suicide, something unimaginable given the previous demeanor of the client, who was young, nice, and was planning her wedding.

  When Kenzie looks for answers, he finds himself in a game of cat-and-mouse with the killer, whose identity long remains a mystery. Karen's last four months are a puzzling picture of decline into drug use and joblessness following her fiance's descent into coma from a car "accident". Her parents paint a picture of her which conflicts with Patrick's memory.

  Just as good as the other books by Lehane I've reviewed, I continue to recommend any by this author. Because of the progression of the relationships of the continuing characters, though, you may want to read them in order. Reviewed 1-9-00.

• Gone, Baby, Gone
  1998  

  Patrick and Angie take a case of a missing four-year-old child at the insistence of her aunt. The mother, who had left the child alone in an unlocked apartment, seems unwilling to help. It's possible that an imprisoned drug dealer is using the child as a pawn in a game of revenge. This chilling and realistic tale is sure to stay with you in the same way it haunts its characters.

• A Drink Before the War
  Dennis Lehane
  1994
  U.S. Edition: Avon Paperback
  U.K. Edition: Bantam Paperback

  This was Lehane's first. The book won a Shamus Award for Best First Novel. (You can find information on winners of this and other awards at MysteryNet.com, http://www.mysterynet.com/awards/). It introduces Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro and does a good job of making it seem as if this was not the first in the series by mentions of previous cases, just as in Rex Stout's first Nero Wolfe book.

  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Lehane's books, they feature a pair of private eyes who are Boston natives--Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro--as they solve their clients' problems, often with the assistance of their somewhat psycho pal, Bubba Rogowski.

  The plot here hinges on a middle-aged black woman who has disappeared from her job as a cleaning woman in the offices of some state senators on the same night some documents also disappeared. The senators want their documents back, of course, but the others who also want them is what makes the story. The tale pits black against white, and provides excellent commentary on race relations in our time. Truly deserving of an award, this first book shows the author's artful turning of phrases. Lehane's subsequent books are of consistent quality, which is quite an accomplishment. (Reviewed 2/16/00.)

Related Links:

• January Magazine interview with Dennis Lehane

• Interview
  Dennis Lehane and George Pelecanos:
  Hard-boiled Buddies

• Dennis Lehane Bio

• Interview

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House of Pain.

When a man's teenaged daughter is kidnapped, he turns to a former Vietnam tunnel rat to find and free his daughter by force rather than going to the police. What happens during the rescue lands the rescuer in court on the question of whether his actions were justifiable when it turned out the whole kidnapping was a teenage prank.
 

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Lescroart, John T.

Nothing But the Truth

Signet Paperback - Released in 2001 - Buy from Amazon.com

Feature Hardcover - Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Summary

In this one, Hardy's wife Frannie is called to testify to the Grand Jury based on her friendship with Ron Beaumont, whose wife was murdered. An assistant D.A. is using the Grand Jury as a means to jump start both the investigation and his career. The police investigation had ground to a halt when the lead investigator was murdered in what appeared to be an unrelated case.

The murdered woman, Bree Beaumont, was a scientist whose defection from an oil and gas corporation which championed the utility of MBTE to keep the air clean shocked a lot of people. Her new allegiance was to a candidate for governor who was trying to stop use of MBTE because of the danger it represented when found in groundwater.

When Frannie ends up in the clink on a contempt citation for, among other things, refusing to answer some questions about matters she had promised her friend that she would keep to herself, Dismas starts his own investigation as he tries to find a way to keep his family together. Frannie's friend disappears, which makes things look even worse for him should he ever be caught. While Diz uncovers a slew of other leads and suspects, the reader is kept wondering whether the husband really did it.

Commentary

An interesting theme in this one is the abuse of power by the prosecution team. Examples such as this remind me of what I think to be pretty clear cut violations of the spirit of the law, on which points the author and I seem to be in complete agreement here.

If you like legal thrillers and haven't read any of Lescroart's, you should give one of his books a try. They can be read out of order if you like--start with this one. You can always pick up the others if you get hooked!

The Mercy Rule

This tale sorts out whether or not a man ended his father's life and, if so, why. If you know San Francisco, you will recognize some of the neighborhoods and buildings that are part of this novel. If you've read other books by Lescroart, you'll appreciate return of the characters from his previous novels, especially Dismas Hardy and his friend Abe Glitsky in the Homicide Division of the SFPD.

Other books by this author:

• Dead Irish
• Hard Evidence
• The Vig
• The 13th Juror

See also the John Lescroart Page.
http://www.johnlescroart.com/

See also other books from the San Francisco Bay Area.

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In Big Trouble
A Tess Monaghan Mystery
1999
U.S. & U.K. Editions: Avon Twilight Paperback

Baltimore P.I. and former newspaper reporter Tess Monaghan receives a cryptic note which sends her on a search for a former love interest and finds herself in the middle of the problems of a strange family in San Antonio.

This is the first book I've read in this series, and the most recent. Monaghan is a likeable and realistic character with some interesting friends and associates. (Reviewed 2/16/00.)

Related Links:

• You can read the first chapter and find out more about the author at
  http://www.mysterynet.com/lippman/

• Interview

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• Criminals
  Character study of rather ordinary people who haplessly fall into criminal behavior.

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• Therapy
  Laurence Passmore seems to have a fairy tale life in a lot of ways but something's missing and the search for what it is could drive a person crazy.

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Others may disagree but I always thought Ludlum was the master of the spy story. My favorite was The Bourne Identity, where a man wakes up on a beach with no memory of who he is but figures it out from seemingly insignificant clues, some of which were simply his behavior.

• The Apocalypse Watch
  Drew Latham investigates the death of his brother, Harry Latham, who disappears after infiltrating a Neo-Nazi organization in Europe.
• Aquitaine Progression
• The Bourne Supremacy
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• The Chancellor Manuscript
• The Gemini Contenders
• The Holcroft Covenant
• The Icarus Agenda
• The Matarese Circle
• The Matlock Paper
• The Osterman Weekend
• The Parsifal Mosaic
• The Rhineman Exchange
• The Road to Gandolfo
  In this humorous diversion from Ludlum's usual, an eccentric General tries to impose his world view.
• The Road to Omaha
  another tale featuring the same characters.

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• Death by Jury
  Alo Nudger is asked to investigate in a case where a man is presumed to have murdered his wife despite the fact that no body has been found. The suspect goes to trial but does not seem at all nervous. What is wrong here?

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