The Motive

4 1/2 stars.

This series by John Lescroart is one of my favorites of this type of book. A lot going on, situations that look hopeless and then get worse, but lots of humor that I like, especially between Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky. I think it gets better after reading other books in the series, as some of the jokes or pranks are sort of inside jokes.

In this one, Hardy's client (his high school girlfriend) has been in jail for a double murder with special circumstances for close to a year, and it's not looking good. The victims were shot, then burned beyond recognition, but are positively identified as the owner of the house, a rich lawyer, and his fiance.

The investigators are against her, and therefore they can influence witnesses - show more after all, if she was arrested, she must be guilty, right? The neighbors, with a little prodding, identify her as the woman they saw leaving the house right before the fire, and gasoline was found in her trunk matching the signature of the gas used to start the fire. Not looking good, and getting worse.

In fact, the investigators are coming down on Hardy, Glitsky, and their friend the mayor, too, and are still looking into a conspiracy from an earlier book where the good guys actually did have a shootout with the police (bad ones) who were threatening them. Nobody really knows what happened, but Hardy and Glitsky do not want anyone opening up that case.

Throughout the story, one of the victims is unusual in that nothing is known about her. She was going to marry the other victim, and of course his ex-wife and kids are all worried that he is going to give all his money to her, not them, so they all have motives, and a few don't have good alibis.

The client may have an alibi, but she lied about where she was because she didn't want her kids to know she was looking into an affair her husband seemed to be having. So, since she lied, it looks bad for her. show less

14 hrs and 38 mins

This is a great mystery story. Although there are enough hints to anticipate the big surprise, it didn't detract from wanting to find out who and why! Readers new to the series are likely to get bored with all the details of the Hardy and Glitsky families, but if, as I do, I find their relationships and histories interesting and realistic, you won't mind. Further, the characters age and change, so it is best to read most of this series in sequence.
Colacci does his usual excellent work as narrator. Highly recommended.

The Motive starts off with a fire at a Victorian house where a prominent San Francisco businessman and his girlfriend are killed, not from the fire, but from bullets to the head. The businessman turns out to be a friend of the mayor. When the case stalls, the mayor hands it over to Abe Glitsky. Meanwhile the deceased’s daughter-in-law hires Dismas Hardy to represent her. She happens to be an old flame of Dismis, something that brings tension between he and his wife. This starts a winding investigation that involves with the auto-towing industry.

The novel has many twists and turns along with a good bit of intrigue along the way. Glitsky and Hardy are ostensibly on opposite sides, but as expected they wind up teaming up. There was show more nothing earth-shattering about the plot or the characterization. It’s not a novel that will resonate long after you read it, but it fairly entertaining, and not a bad read.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street show less

Very good read. Exciting and detailed and excellent insight in court room action. Perhaps a bit too detailed and long for my tastes but a very good read nevertheless. He paints some very visual scenes with his descriptions. I plan to try him again real soon.

Another Dismas Hardy - Abe Glitsky legal thriller. Or legal mystery, more like. Hardy is the lawyer, Glitsky the police detective - now assistant to the chief or something like that. The case that engages them begins as an apparent murder-suicide, to which neither is called.

Prominent lawyer Paul Hanover and presumably his fiance are found, burned beyond recognition in Hanover's house in San Francisco. Each has a bullet wound in the head, with the placement suggesting that Hanover did his fiance and then himself.

Glitsky is called to the mayor's office, where she specifically requests that he involve himself in solving the case. The lead detective, Cuneo, is unfortunately a detective with a grudge against the Hardy-Glitsky duo and show more suspicions of conspiracy between them, based on a previous incident. Cuneo is thus not particularly cooperative with Glitsky. Meanwhile, when his investigation begins to focus on Catherine Hanover, daughter-in-law of Paul, Catherine calls in Hardy. Turns out she and Hardy had a past.

Glitsky continues to investigate even after Cuneo has zeroed in on Catherine, but he does so with some difficulty: he does not wish to antagonize the detective and he finds it difficult to justify his actions at this point. It is only later that he starts to look further into persons who were neglected initially. Both he and Hardy find it hard to believe that Catherine is guilty, and yet their feelings don't exactly constitute any kind of evidence. More, neither really knows her that well at this stage of her life. She could be guilty.

This tale takes quite a meandering path to its eventual conclusion. And the motive is far afield from any originally considered. show less

Second read of a Lescroart classic. Well paced 3/4 of the book, then the ending becomes pretty odd, although predictable. Why once again did Missy kill her rich boyfriend??

I did not realize this was Book 11 in a series. And after reading it, I still couldn't really tell. Just vague hints of the past and the future.

I guess if you like murder thrillers with large dashes of legality thrown in, this is for you.

I just read it because I needed a dtb for when my ereader was down. Outside of my genre to boot. Not a waste of time, but will not be seeking out more by the author.