by John Lescroart

Amazon.com
One of mystery fiction's most enduring and affecting male buddy teams--San Francisco defense attorney  and police lieutenant Abe Glitsky--are back in Lescroart's newest thriller. Glitsky's been kicked upstairs (or sideways) to a desk job and warned off his usual homicide beat even though it's his father's best friend who's been murdered in a robbery-slaying, and it's Hardy's pal and client, John Holiday, who's been targeted as the killer. When two more killings follow, no one in the department believes that Hardy's client was set up. They don't believe Abe, either--the harder he tries to get at the truth, the more his ex-colleagues are convinced that he's a rogue cop who wants his old job back and will stoop to anything to get it. They got that idea from the well-bribed police brass who are protecting the real killers from prosecution and putting Abe and Dismas's nearest and dearest in their cross-hairs, too. But that's not quite enough to call our heroes off the case, even though the talented author manages to maintain the tension and ratchet up the suspense long enough to make the reader wonder. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Abe Glitsky, the gruff, hard-nosed homicide cop from San Francisco who typically plays a supporting role in Lescroart's line of legal thrillers (Hard Evidence; The Hearing; etc.), takes center stage in the series's 11th entry. After convalescing for 13 months from a gunshot wound suffered in last year's The Oath, Glitsky finally returns to the force, only to discover that his beloved homicide detail is now under the command of someone else. Glitsky is assigned to head the payroll department. Embittered about his new job and itching to return to real police work, Glitsky starts poking around when one of his father's friends, a pawnshop owner, is shot to death. His superiors warn him to stop trying to horn his way back into homicide, but it soon becomes apparent to Glitsky-and the series's usual star, defense attorney Dismas Hardy-that the case is far more significant than a simple robbery gone bad; it's part of a string of murders that appear to be connected to a private security company that provides protection for much of the city's business community. Worse, somebody on the police force is trying to cover up the murder spree and frame one of Hardy's clients for it. With his latest, Lescroart again lands in the top tier of crime fiction. On display are his usual strengths-a grasp of current social and legal issues, an insider's knowledge of San Francisco and an ability to draw characters with sensitive, nuanced strokes. Even when his plots grow a little far-fetched-as this one does toward the end-Lescroart's storytelling skills conceal the blemishes.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.