Search - The Vig (Dismas Hardy, Bk 2)

As a recent fan of Dismas Hardy et al, I ordered the first two books in the series to learn more about the origins of this entertaining cast of characters. The Vig provides a lot of the background for Diz as he is portrayed in later books. The writing and plotting are not up to the smooth storytelling of Lescroart's later books, and the characters are not as fully drawn and consistent, but it is still a good read. I enjoyed seeing where it all started and having an adventure to boot.

Although intended to be a stand alone, I would strongly recommend reading the previous Dismas Hardy book entitled "Dead Irish" to understand some of the self-torment on the part of Dismas Hardy that continues into this book.

For those that have read "Dead Irish", this book is not nearly so dark and tortured. Not that it's a comedy since there are plenty of people dying, being set up in criminal schemes and hard choices are faced by many of the main characters. However, the overall climate of the book is much less severe.

As to the general plot - an old colleague of Hardy's named Rusty from the DA's office warns him that a murderer who had threatened to kill them both when he was released was being released soon. Rusty's houseboat becomes the scene of an apparent double murder and it turns out that lots of people had a motive to kill Rusty, including an ex-cop, a jealous husband, the mafia, a prosecutor and the ex-con murderer.

Good book

Dismas Hardy, have to love him. He is down and out, helping solve another exciting murder.

Book #2 - Grand ... great author