A Plague of Secrets

Dismas Hardy, Book 13

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: David Colacci

The first victim is Dylan Vogler, a charming ex-convict who manages the Bay Beans West coffee shop in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. When his body is found, inspectors discover that his knapsack is filled with high-grade marijuana. It soon becomes clear that San Francisco's A-list flocked to Bay Beans West not only for their caffeine fix.

But how much did Maya Townshend - the beautiful socialite niece of the city's mayor, and the absentee owner of the shop - know about what was going on inside her business? And how intimate had she really been with Dylan, her old college friend?

As another of Maya's acquaintances falls victim to murder, and as the names of the dead men's celebrity, political, and even law-enforcement customers come to light, tabloid-fueled controversy takes the investigation into the realms of conspiracy and cover-up. Prosecutors close in on Maya, who has a deep secret of her own - a secret she needs to protect at all costs during her very public trial, where not only her future but the entire political landscape of San Francisco hangs in the balance, hostage to an explosive secret that Dismas Hardy is privilegebound to protect.

©2009 John Lescroart (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Skip to the end.

Boring. Six hours later and I just wanted to find out who dunit so I could move,onto something else.

My first audiobook!

The Dismis Hardy series is fantastic and this was no exception.
I didn’t realize the narrator would do the voices differently. Would be better to have a female performer do the female characters.

A yarn about political and judicial abuse

Maybe I've read so many mystery novels that I am no longer shocked by the revelations of who really did it and why. I now read stories for the journey-how the author gets me to the conclusion. This story is slow for the first few chapters, but it picks up near the end. If you have the patience to wade through this police and legal procedural, I recommend it. Also, the reader does a fair job.

Great story, great narration

David Collaci brings the gripping Dismas Hardy stories to life perfectly. I never get confused about who is talking but the voices never come across as fake sounding. Now that I've listened to almost all the Dismas Hardy books, I think I'll check out some of the other books he narrates

Overall - Good Book

Good.... but not great.

The story is just not quite intriguing enough to classify it as a "can't put down" novel.

However, I DID enjoy it. This was my first Dismas Hardy novel and I will probably try another.

I believe a previous reviewer in that this may not be one of his best.

I like the author's style, and he is quite brilliant at creating good legal angles and interesting dialogue.

Laurie is dead on in her review. The editor oughta be shot for leaving such a hole open in the conclusion - he/she totally missed closing it!!

Good Narrator - Overall recommended.