I generally enjoy thrillers, with legal and financial being my favorite subgenres. There are several authors that are consistently ones whose latest books are always on my TBR shelf as soon as I can get them, and John Lescroart has been on that list since I first came across his work in the late 1980s.  I was working in public libraries, and I recommended him to friends, co-workers, and library patrons (although for the longest time I was totally unsure about the pronunciation of his last name!) Over the years, I have read the majority of the Dismas Hardy series and several others, and have continued to enjoy his work. Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley, I received a copy of The Missing Piece, the latest (#19) in the series featuring San Francisco attorney Dismas Hardy, in exchange for my honest review. 

Familiar characters are all there: in addition to Dismas, there are Abe Glitsky (former cop, now a PI), Wes Farrell (former DA), and Wyatt Hunt, along with Franny and Treya (Dismas’s and Abe’s wives), as well as peripheral characters including a detective named Waverly, first seen in Poison, #17 in this series.  

When Wes was San Francisco DA, he convicted a man named Paul Riley for rape and murder. After eleven years in prison, Riley was released due to the work of  a group called “ The Exoneration Initiative,” a fact that REALLY annoyed Doug Rush, the murdered woman’s father. In short order, Riley is killed, and his father identifies Rush (father of the murdered woman) as the killer.  The police think it’s all cut and dried, with the still-grieving father of Riley’s dead girlfriend as the obvious killer of the former prisoner. 

Farrell, having had enough of politics, has returned to practicing law with Hardy and their firm agreed to represent Rush.When Rush goes missing, Farrell and Hardy ask Abe Glitsky to track him down. The investigation leads Abe down several paths, including encounters with Rush’s married girlfriend that cause him to question his own sense of morality and values. 

Overall, I loved it. I think it is his best in years. The characters are all there, along with their snappy dialogue and self-reflection that I enjoy. I will recommend it to everyone who enjoys mysteries, police procedurals, or just an entertaining book with excellent characters, setting, and plot! Five stars.