Poison
A Novel
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4.3 • 226 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author whose prose “matches the best of John Grisham and Scott Turow” (Providence Journal) comes a gripping thriller featuring attorney Dismas Hardy as he investigates the murder of a wealthy man whose heirs are all potential suspects.
Finally recovered from two gunshot wounds, Dismas Hardy is looking forward to easing into retirement and reconnecting with his family. But he is pulled back into the courtroom when Grant Wagner, the steely owner of a successful family business, is murdered. The prime suspect is Wagner’s bookkeeper Abby Jarvis, a former client of Hardy’s, who had been receiving large sums of cash under-the-table from the company—but she insists that she’s innocent.
Preparing for trial, Dismas investigates the Wagner clan and discovers dark, twisted secrets, jealous siblings, gold-digging girlfriends, betrayals, and blackmail. The closer he gets to the Wagners, the clearer it becomes that Dismas has a target painted on his back. With razor-sharp dialogue and whip-smart plotting, Poison once again demonstrates that “Lescroart is a master craftsman” (Associated Press).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In bestseller Lescroart's satisfying 20th Dismas Hardy novel (after 2016's The Fall), the San Francisco attorney, who's recovering from two gunshot wounds and looking forward to retiring soon, can't resist defending a former client, Abby Jarvis, against a murder charge. After committing vehicular manslaughter more than a decade earlier and serving 22 months in prison, Abby has cleaned up her act, become a parent, and landed a steady job as a bookkeeper for a plumbing and fixtures company. After Abby's boss, wealthy Grant Wagner, recently died, apparently from a heart attack, his daughter Gloria questioned that conclusion, given her father's healthy lifestyle. The autopsy that Gloria pressed for revealed that Grant was poisoned with aconite, and Abby, who stood to inherit $1 million, was subsequently indicted for the crime. Believing Abby innocent, Hardy begins to search for plausible alternative suspects. Though the final reveal won't shock veteran genre readers, Lescroart does a good job of balancing the whodunit plot line with well-developed portrayals of both major and secondary characters.
Customer Reviews
Perfect
Again... another winner! Most entertaining!
Poison
The story was confusing and I was disappointed after having read all of the Dismas Hardy novels.
AlanB
Not his best, but a solid read
Feels a little weak, sort of going through the motions, but still a decent read.