The Keeper by John Lescroart

My goodness, I've been reading John Lescroart's novels for a long time!  The latest entry in his series about Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky is The Keeper, and I enjoyed it very much.  (Especially since I was disappointed in the previous one, The Ophelia Cut, I was so glad to find that Lescroart can still keep me involved.)

Hal Chase is a guard at the city jail, his wife is missing, and when homicide detectives visit him, he decides it is time for a lawyer.  Dismas Hardy is well aware that the circumstances look grim for Katie, Hal's wife, and that the usual suspect is, indeed, the husband.  However, Dismas entertains an intuition that Hal may not be responsible.

Abe Glitsky, former head of homocide, is now retired, at loose ends, and a little bored.  When Dismas brings him on as an investigator to find evidence of Hal's innocence, Abe has to admit that Hal would be his most likely suspect.  

When Katie's body is discovered and Hal's affair and the large insurance policy on Katie are revealed--well, things don't look good for Hal Chase.  

District Attorney Wes Farrell, Dismas' friend and former partner, is also concerned with suspicious deaths that have occurred in the jail.  What connections can there be between corruption in the jail and Katie's murder?  

Glitsky is now looking at the possibility of other suspects, and it turns out there may be more than would be expected.

Lescroart is in top form, pulling together a number of disparate threads in this tightly constructed plot.  As usual, his characterization is spot on, and the cast of characters, both familiar and newly introduced, feel genuinely human. 

I've been reading this series for about twenty years, and have rarely been disappointed.  The characters have aged, their kids have grown up, their situations have changed, but the San Francisco world that Lescroart has created still feels honest and authentic.

NetGalley/Atria Books

Crime/Mystery/Legal Thriller.  May 6, 2014.  Print version:  320 pages.