- Cover of A Plague of Secrets - Penguin Publishers; Jacket, Richard Hasselberger
In A Plague of Secrets, the 2009 bestseller in his Dismas Hardy – Abe Glitsky series , John Lescroart once again puts San Francisco criminal defense attorney Dismas Hardy into the spotlight. Hardy’s current client is a woman with a mysterious past. But Maya Townshend is not alone in her need to protect her past from public scrutiny. Hardy discovers an entire “plague of secrets” among San Francisco’s power elite as he attempts to defend Townsend from two murder charges.
Synopsis of A Plague of Secrets
When ex-convict Dylan Vogler is found dead at the Bay Beans West coffee shop that he manages, the police quickly notice that bag clutched in his hands contains not coffee grounds, but marijuana. Vogler has long maintained a profitable sideline dealing in the drug, and his client list includes many of the apparently respectable members of San Francisco society.
Maya Townshend, the owner of Bay Beans West, who is also a niece of San Francisco Mayor Kathy West, has known Vogler since their college days. Townshend comes under immediate suspicion for Vogler’s murder when Inspector’s Darrel Bracco and Debra Schiff link the $90,000 salary she was paying Vogler to blackmail. Supervisor Harlen Fisk, Townshend’s brother, asks Dismas Hardy to assist Townshend in her interviews with the police.
Schriff is particularly aggressive in her pursuit of Townshend. By allying herself with ambitious federal attorney Jerry Glass, Schriff gains the power to arrest Townshend after a second murder takes place, that of Levon Preslee, yet another acquaintance from Townshend’s troubled college days.
Townshend’s secrecy about the connection between her and the two murder victims hampers Hardy’s defense. He assigns investigator Wyatt Hunt the task of finding information on other potential suspects in the case that the police have overlooked.
Basis for an Evaluation of A Plague of Secrets
One basis for the evaluation of A Plague of Secrets involves its use of two cornerstones of Lescroart’s own writing philosophy. These include the presence of a human theme in the novel that supersedes the crime theme and the use of a surprise ending that is established within the structure of the novel. Lescroart explains these standards in interviews published in Narrative Magazine and in Writing on the Edge.
Lescroart Aims for Human Themes Rather Than Crime Themes
In an interview with Pat Gage in Narrative Magazine, Lescroart discusses his choice of the subject for his writing. “Early on I decided that I wanted to address human themes and not just thriller and crime elements,” Lescroart states.
Lescroart Supports His Surprise Endings
In another iInterview, this time with Craig Thaiss for Writing on the Edge, Lescroart defends his frequent use of surprise endings in his novels. He comments, “Most people do think of my books as 'Wow, where did that come from?' But it all came from the story. I do like to turn things around, but to me what makes the books work is that, if I’m working right, I can lead you down a primrose lane that you’re going to feel great walking down even if the path has a dead end.”
Effectiveness of Lescroart’s Use of Human Themes and Surprise Endings in A Plague of Secrets
Unfortunately, when judged by these two criteria, A Plague of Secrets does not measure up to the standards established in Lescroart’s other novels. No broader “human theme” is developed, and the surprise ending lacks motivation.
Lescroart has scope within the novel to demonstrate the effect of marijuana use in society and thereby make his novel more significant than just the tale of the death of yet another drug dealer. He fails, though, to take advantage of that opportunity. In fact, Dismas Hardy laughingly dismisses the concern expressed by a colleague who believes he will lose his job because he has been among Vogler’s clients. Hardy responds by informing his friend that no one takes marijuana use seriously in San Francisco.
Lescroart’s ending, while certainly a surprise, fails to meet his own criteria of being sufficiently established in the novel. Apparently recognizing this deficiency, Lescroart adds a chapter at the conclusion of his novel that explains why the murderer acted as he did.
Readers of the other books in Lescroart’s Dismas Hardy – Abe Glitsky series will, nonetheless, want to peruse this title as well. Favorite series characters like Abe Glitsky, Wyatt Hunt and Gina Roarke reappear in new situations. A Plague of Secrets is also a solid crime novel. It fails, however, to become more than that.
Book ID: A Plague of Secrets. Dutton, June 30 2009.ISBN 9780525950929
Carol Thomas - Carol Thomas began her writing career by teaching English Composition at two Kentucky universities. A 25-year detour into academic ...
