I don’t know how I discovered John Lescroart but he gave me Dismas Hardy and Wyatt Hunt and I will be forever grateful!

That statement is pretty much true in that I don’t know exactly how I came across John Lescroart, his books and his great characters but, at the same time, that doesn’t seem to be uncommon with my reading! As I’ve said in a few posts, as I have read more and more in this genre, I find myself running out of authors I know and I have to look around for new ideas. That used to involve working my way through the shelves in a bookshop or a library but all that has changed over recent years. Nowadays, my most common sources consist of searching for suggestions of other authors I might like if I have enjoyed a particular writer’s books or, alternatively, just searching for suggestions on my kindle. The whole process is pretty straightforward with the kindle as, if I like a suggestion, I usually just buy it and start reading there and then!

So, I can’t remember how I discovered John Lescroart but I’m pretty sure it was through one of these latter routes and I’m pretty pleased that I did find him! He has three main characters who appear in his stories and, on many occasions, all three features in the same books although there are a few I would describe as stand alone. The characters are a lawyer, a private detective and a police chief and they are set in San Francisco. The stories all fit very well into the detective fiction genre and many of them have very good, compelling plots, usually in the nature of a whodunnit, but, in addition to that, the main three characters and a number of others, in the shape of family members, friends and colleagues, are all (in my opinion) very engaging and certainly right up there with others I’ve written about such as Myron Bolitar, Spenser, Jesse Stone, Elvis Cole and so on. Consequently, I felt John Lescroart, his books and his characters certainly justified a post!

Lescroart is a very well-regarded, New York Times best-selling author, an English graduate who found his way to full-time writing through a very circuitous route as set out in his wikipedia pages. I’ll leave you to have a look at these. His principal character is a lawyer called Dismas Hardy who was previously a San Francisco policeman who retrained in the law and has worked as both prosecutor and defender at different times. I think Lescroart has written some eighteen Hardy novels and I have been through all of those which are available on kindle and thoroughly enjoyed them all. His great friend, the Jewish/African American, San Franciscan cop, Abe Glitsky appears in almost all of them and the private detective, Wyatt Hunt also turns up in quite a number. Both Abe and Wyatt also have a few where they are the principal characters.

While I have enjoyed the various stories featuring the characters, just as with so many of the authors I read, it has been Lescroart’s ability to help me really get to know the characters themselves to the extent where I feel I know Dismas and Abe, in particular, really well. I know all their family members, each with their own little stories as well as the people they work with and their friends. I think it is a real skill to involve the reader to such an extent in what is going on in their books and, like most of the others who feature in my posts, John Lescroart is no different. As my searches usually say to me, I would say to you, ‘if you like Harlen Coben, Robert Crais, Robert B Parker, David Baldacci, and so on, you will like John Lescroart’! I know we all create our own pictures in our minds of the characters we read about it but you need good, helpful descriptions to enable you to do that and that’s what you’ll find with Dismas and Abe in particular. I really can’t recommend strongly enough that you try some of Lescroart’s books. I began with the three Wyatt Hunt books and these introduce you to Dismas Hardy, just enough to get you interested. I then went on to read all of the Hardy stories, mostly picking them up in order of publication. That’s not necessarily essential although it’s worth beginning with the first ‘Dead Irish’ as it provides a lot of useful background into his life and family. The rest do follow Dismas though his life with one coming out every year or so and he ages through the books so it’s helpful to follow the order but, as I say, not essential, as Lescroart usually brings you up to speed in each volume. Give them a try!

One final little point of interest. It really goes without saying that Dismas is an unusual name and I wonder if anyone knows where it comes from. It has religious connections in that Saint Dismas was one of the thieves crucified with Jesus. Known as the Penitent or the Good Thief he is unnamed when referred to in Luke’s Gospel but was later given the name Dismas and, traditionally, known in Catholicism as Saint Dismas. The reason for his being referred to as the Good Thief can be found at this link. Now, there’s a surprising finish to this post! I’m sure you would have wondered where the name came from and, if nothing else, it might be useful in a quiz!