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.

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

Book #2 - Grand ... great author

very good

Down-and-out-lawyer Rusty Ingraham left behind a murdered woman and a houseboat splattered with blood. All the evidence said Ingraham was in San Francisco Bay. Dead. But a friend of Ingraham's, former cop and prosecutor Dismas Hardy, isn't so sure. And Hardy has to find out, because a stone-cold killer, now paroled, once threatened to kill Ingraham and Dismas Hardy both.
Now, to save his own skin, Dismas must face down liars and killers on both sides of the law. From mob foot soldiers to brokenhearted lovers to renegade cops, a dozen lives are tied to the fate of Rusty Ingraham-and the payback has only just begun...

Second in the long-running Dismas Hardy series. A good, complex mystery with a satisfying ending.

First of the Dismas Hardy books. Liked it a lot.

Another Hardy/Glitsky thriller; I think it's their best one.

Read All Book Reviews of "The Vig Dismas Hardy Bk 2"