I’m a long time fan of this author’s books, and this book continues his tradition of crafting an intricate storyline.

Paul Riley is released from prison after the Exoneration Initiative produces the man who confessed to the murder Paul was put into jail for. But soon after Paul is released he is murdered, and his father points the finger at the father of the woman Paul was accused of killing.

Abe Glitsky, former detective now private investigator is tagged by his firm, representing Doug Rush, the woman’s father, with gathering information and determining if Doug killed Paul. This action starts the ball rolling and Abe and the rest of his firm find themselves pulling at strings to unravel several murders. Are they connected, or are they a coincidence? What does any of this have to do with Paula and EI? The reader is kept guessing until the end!

This was a fast-paced, well conceived mystery and I really enjoyed it. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

All my favorite characters are present in this book: Dismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky, Wes Farrell and Wyatt Hunt.

As DA, Wyatt Hunt convicted Paul Riley of rape and murder. He served eleven years in prison before being exonerated by The Exoneration Initiative. However, the murdered girls father Doug Rush still thought Paul Riley got away with murder. Shortly after his release, Riley is killed and a witness identified Doug Rush as the killer. He is represented by Hardy and Farrell. When he disappears, Glitsky as a PI is asked to find him.

There are many twists and turns and this is a memorable addition to the series.

The Missing Piece is the nineteenth in a series, the lea character of which (as billed/titled, anyway) is Dismas Hardy. This book, however, features more of Abe Glitsky, a PI, and Wes Farrell, a former prosecutor, now defense attorney, who is having a midlife crisis about defending people he believes are guilty. According to some things I read, Lescroart cycles through characters, putting some (like Abe and Wes here) in the forefront, and then in the next book, putting others at the front. No problem with that!

I've not read any of the books in this series, and I don't think it's necessary to start at one and land here, as it's fine as a standalone. There are enough details about the relationships between the characters that it easily works as a standalone.

Eleven years ago, Farrell prosecuted Paul Riley for the rape and murder of Dana Rush. The Exoneration Initiative, akin to the Innocence Project, finds new DNA evidence pointing to another man who was already in prison for the same crime. That man confessed to Dana's murder, and Paul Riley is released. Paul heads home to live with his father. After Paul cleans up and remodels the room above the garage, his father decides Paul should start paying rent, at $2500/month. Thanks, dad. Since Paul doesn't make much at the restaurant where he works - and certainly not enough to pay dear old dad's price, he decides to go back to breaking and entering.

After one job, he's back in his place, when his dad calls up to him. Paul thinks pops sounds a little off, so he shoves the loot under his pillow, opens the door, but it isn't dad. Paul has an "Oh, shit" moment, but the person at the door shoots Paul in the head before he can do anything.

A couple of detectives show up, and Paul's father tells them he saw the shooter: Doug Rush, the father of the girl Paul murdered. So, despite everything that screams bullshit about this - including dad's attempt to say the money Paul has stuffed under his pillow belonging to him, the dad the scumbag - thee two just bop right over to Doug's place. After asking him a couple of questions about where he's been, and his refusal to tell them anything, they decide to go ahead and arrest him on the basis of Paul's dad's eyewitness. This is the dumbest thing in the book, given how notoriously unreliable eyewitnesses are. In any case, while getting the cuffs on Doug, one of the detectives, who clearly has some issues, beats him. Of course someone captures it on video. Doug makes a call to a detective that worked his daughter's case,who in turn calls Farrell: Doug wants Farrell as his lawyer.

Farrell agrees to represent Doug, even though he thinks Doug is guilty. He manages to get Doug out on bail, though, then goes back to his life, talking to multiple people about his existential crisis. When Doug doesn't appear in court when he's supposed to, Farrell immediately goes to" guilty, he's a runner.

But Doug turns up dead, and not by suicide. Farrell now feels guilty, talks to Hardy, and in comes Abe, to poke around at what happened, as they feel they owe it to Doug.

From there, we get a real investigation, instead of whatever the hell the detectives who arrested Doug were doing (they were suspended shortly after arresting him). Abe finds Doug did indeed have an alibi for the time Paul was shot, but it wasn't something Doug wanted to reveal, in order to protect someone. Then yet another body shows up, and Abe dogs the case until he discovers that missing piece.

Although there is some time devoted to Farrell and his issues with working defense instead of offense, those moments don't drag the book down. Since I'm a weather nerd, I didn't mind the descriptions of that throughout the book. The main characters are well developed by now, of course, and they all act like real, actual people. The story itself raises questions about how possible criminals are treated, how new testing that wasn't available years ago shows innocent people have been locked up, and what justice means or should be. The missing piece, to me, had a bit of luck involved, but sometimes, you do get lucky.

Four and a half stars, rounded up to five.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the reading copy.

A complex masterfully written crime/legal thriller. Much as Sandford does with Davenport Lescroart does with Hardy. Love this series. Highly recommended novel of suspense.

A great thriller with some really fascinating characters. I found the writing style very appealing - tight prose and snappy, believable dialogue. I was pleased to learn this is part of a series and will definitely be reading more by this author.

A decent mystery in the Dismas Hardy series. It's always nice to jump into a familiar series where you know the characters. The plot was interesting and kept me engaged, not as intense as books earlier in the series but an entertaining quick read. #Netgalley #TheMissingPiece

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.

Paul Riley, who was in prison for the rape and murder of his girlfriend, is released from prison thanks to the Exoneration Initiative, who found evidence that pinned the crime on someone else. No one is particularly pleased to see him freed after 11 years, and he soon turns up dead, surrounded by loot from his latest B&E. If Riley was innocent all along, who would want him dead? The police instantly suspect the still-grieving father, Doug Rush, of Riley's dead girlfriend. Wes Farrell, now a defense attorney, agrees to represent Rush but is left in the dust when Rush vanishes. At a loss, Dismas Hardy and Farrell ask PI Abe Glitsky to track down the potentially lethal defendant. Throughout his search, Glitsky encounters wounded parents, crooked cops, cheating spouses, and single-minded vigilantes. He discards one enticing theory after another, trying to unravel the mystery of Doug Rush and Paul Riley.

This is actually my first Lescroart book, and I have now added him to my list of author's to read. His writing is a lot different than other mystery writers out there, something I wasn't quite sure I liked at first. But in the end, I loved that Farrell is not your typical defense attorney, and I enjoyed the fact that there wasn't really a main character- focus shifted between various characters, mostly Farrell and Glitsky. It was like reading an episode of Law & Order (one of my favorite shows). One of my favorite parts was finding out what crazy shirt Farrell was wearing- love little details like that. I loved the twists and turns throughout the story, never knowing what was going to happen next. Amidst the mystery of the case, Lescroart raises some interesting questions with his humanistic writing, causing the reader to think deeply about issues that are prevalent in today's society.

The only thing that I had a little bit of difficulty with was when Lescroart would switch back and forth (sometimes within the same sentence) on how he referred to characters. For example, he would refer to Wes Farrell as Wes and as Farrell, which sometimes made this seem like it was two different people. He did this with other characters as well. Other than that, I enjoyed the book immensely.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and Lescroart for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Innocent until proven guilty. That’s the basis for our American justice system, isn’t it? A jury is, in theory, screened and selected on the premise that each member will be unbiased, will impartially listen to the evidence, and will deliberate without prejudice. Defense attorneys are duty bound to defend their clients to the best of their abilities, regardless of their personal opinions of the guilt or innocence of the accused.

In The Missing Piece, John Lescroart’s 19th episode of his Dismas Hardy series, defense attorney Wes Farrell is facing a late-career crisis. As a prosecutor for the Office of District Attorney in San Francisco, he successfully prosecuted Paul Riley, a man who was charged with raping and murdering a young woman. Eleven years later, Riley has been set free, thanks to an organization known as The Exoneration Initiative. The group’s advocates discovered evidence that exposed led to another person confessing to the crime. Farrell is no longer with the DA’s office; he’s back with his old law firm, Farrell, Freeman, Hardy & Roake.

It turns out that no one is particularly happy to see Paul Riley when he’s released from prison. Even his father isn’t all that welcoming. No one seems more unhappy, however, than the father of the woman who was raped and murdered. So, when Riley is murdered only a month after his release, the father, Doug Rush, is the prime suspect. Here’s the rub: Rush was so impressed with Farrell’s skills in the courtroom during the trial more than a decade earlier that he wants Wes to defend him. What will Wes do? He’s no longer certain where his head and his heart are leading him.

The plot thickens, as the saying goes, and the focus quickly shifts from Wes Farrell to Abe Glitsky, the former homicide detective turned private detective. Abe stirs up a hornet’s nest with his questions and leaves in his wake a trail of dead bodies. Okay, not really his fault. He does uncover some interesting data about other EI alumni and questions an assortment of witnesses. This book is not a barnburner, by any means, but it certainly held my interest. Even though I had a good idea who was responsible, my mind was doing some crazy mental gymnastics trying to keep up with Abe’s investigation. Naturally, he takes too many chances and well…I’m not saying more than that.

I love this Hardy series! I love how Lescroart shuffles his lead characters from one book to another and that when one team member gets in over his head, the others all get together and pitch in. Those who are familiar with San Francisco will probably recognize some familiar places like the Embarcadero and the Little Shamrock Bar, which was established in 1893 and survived the 1906 earthquake.

On a more serious note, of course, is the matter of justice. Guilt. Innocence. Fairness. We see what happens when an unauthorized person decides to take matters into his own hands.

I received an ARC digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. My thanks to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, and Mr. John Lescroart.

4 stars for another well crafted legal mystery in the Dismas Hardy series. This book focuses on an Exoneration Initiative case, where convicted murderer Paul Riley is released after this legal team files legal appeals on his behalf and succeeds in getting the alleged murderer exonerated and released. But then 4 months after his release Riley is murdered and a witness claims that he saw Doug Rush, the father of the murdered victim from the original trial 11 years ago, at the scene of Riley's murder. Rush is arrested and Wes Farrell, a lawyer with Hardy's firm, agrees to defend Doug.
Doug is released on bail. Doug disappears and Hardy assigns his chief investigator, Abe Glitsky to find him. Another murder happens and Abe is attacked, because he won't give up the investigation. Abe does solve the case, but there are several false clues and some interesting moral questions raised in the book: What happens if a factual killer is released on a technicality?
This series is probably best read in order, but I have not done so. This book worked fine for me as a stand alone.
One quote, describing Wes Farrell: "The customer cut a fine figure, an attorney in a thousand dollar business suit. Like the werewolves of London, his hair was perfect, full and speckled with just the right amount of gray, for the ever-crucial gravitas."
Thanks to Atria Books and John Lescroart for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.
Revised Pub.date: March 29, 2022

John Lescroart never fails his books always draw me in.This is an excellent addition to the series but can be read alone.Characters that one alive a tight story will be recommending this and other books by the author.#netgalley #atria

This is the nineteenth in the Dismiss Hardy series; the first one was published in 1989! Over the years, I have read quite a few of them. I enjoy the repeating characters; it is like visiting with old acquaintances whenever a new book in the series is released.

A solid legal thriller/police procedural (albeit most of the work done by a former head of homicide turned PI), it takes a while for the case(s) to be solved as Glitsky chases a number of red herrings. The plot is maybe not the strongest in this series, but it still makes for a page turning, enjoyable read.

Lescroat quickly fills in the background information on the main characters meaning this book will work as a standalone, but I think it may be more enjoyable if you have read some of the others. I’m looking forward to the next in this series to see how Farrell (DA turned defense attorney) resolves his present career crisis.

This book is one in a series about the character Dismas Hardy. You do not have to read the books in order but it is nice to do so because of the character development and age progression of Dismas and his family. The story is compelling, as usual. John Lescroart is a fabulous author who writes a believable story with realistic and likable character. I highly recommend this book.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It was a well written book. I hope to read more books by this author.

Wes Ferrell, former DA, is now working at a law firm that defends people accused of crimes. Wes is burned out and assumes if you are arrested you are guilty. Is it time for him to move on? When he gets a case of a man who is beat up by the police during his arrest for murder he assumes the man is guilty and is only going thru the motions. When the defendant disappears Wes soon finds out he might be wrong about his guilt. Abe Glitsky starts an investigation and the more he learns the more he feels something isnt right. There were a lot of twists and turns in this book, I had no idea where it was going. This is part of a series but could easily be read as a stand alone, definitely a page turner. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

This book is extremely timely. It looks at the ethical dilemma of reminding people that someone is innocent until proven guilty and the need for fair representation. It turns a stern eye at the police as more folks use cell phones to record police brutality.
Wes Farrell is having a crisis of faith. As Lescroat writes, “The prosecutor Wes had been for the past eight years had altered his DNA and he believed what he told Gina: once you got yourself all the way to arrested- he didn’t care too much about the individual circumstances or even the crime itself-you were guilty.” But Wes is now back to being a defense attorney. And he just can’t bring himself to believe the defense attorney mantra, that they do it for the one in a hundred accused who’s actually innocent.
This 19th book in the series brings back all the regular players, including Farrell, Hardy and Glitsky. Back when Wes was the DA, he sent away a man for the rape and murder of a young woman. The man is exonerated through the efforts of the Exoneration Initiative and released from prison. On the exact day of the woman’s death, the man is shot. And his father claims he saw Doug Rush, the father of the woman, leaving the man’s apartment. Now, Wes is taking Doug's case. But things take another turn. Now, it’s Glitsky’s turn to take the lead, as he investigates how everything might have played out.
It’s not a fast paced story. There are lots of possibilities and red herrings thrown up as Glitsky struggles to figure out what happened.
I enjoyed the story as the pace and possibilities felt real. I liked the mental gymnastics Glitsky goes through trying to put the puzzle pieces together. There are lots of suspects, but no evidence that puts any of them squarely in the mix. Although I have to say, I caught on to who was behind the crimes early on in the book.
While it’s part of a series, it could easily be read as a standalone as the reader is given adequate background on the characters.
My thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

I have to say this Dismas Hardy et all book was a bit of a disappointment. The author obviously wanted to focus on current policing and legal issues. But the book felt a bit sanctimonious in that journey. And while I have loved this series in the past some of the interactions and character development was not awesome or believable. The whole idea of the case and how it plays out is so unrealistic.

I was given a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

I've read all the books in this series and I love them all. It's like reuniting with old friends. Wes Farrell, a county attorney turned defense attorney is having a moral dilemma. He sees all his clients as guilty and can't strum up the energy or desire to defend them. When one of them ends up murdered himself, Wes and partners fell obligated to find justice. Abe Glitsky, private investigator, goes on the hunt, Possibly at a great cost.
Definitely not my favorite in the series. It lacked the usual humor and witty banter between characters. If you like a good who dunnit, this books for you!

As a fan I have read all of the Hardy and Glitzky books and have enjoyed them allover these many many years. The last book in the series would have been a great way to wrap it up if that is what Lescroart intended but it was still fun to see the characters again. Pretty much everyone returns in this one but what brings this one down a notch for me is that the case in this story just wasn't that interesting. A few too many coincidences ( including everyone having a resemblance to the main suspect, seemed a little far-fetched) and a villain that was easy for me to spot. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early review copy, 3 + stars.

Another great addition to this series! I love returning to these characters and see what’s new in their lives combined with a fantastic mystery that really has you wondering how it’s going to pan out. This could easily be read as a stand-alone but I’d recommend the series. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for review.

I came to the Dismas Hardy party late, reading my first book in the now 19-book series in 2018. Since then, I haven't missed a one - and like the others, this one was thoroughly enjoyable and once again made me eager to read more.

As this one opens, Wes Farrell, former San Francisco District Attorney who now on the defense side at Hardy's firm, is thinking about quitting - he's tired, he says, of defending people he thinks are guilty. One of those he helped put in jail as a prosecutor, Paul Riley, has just been released from jail after being found guilty of murder - one of many cases taken up by a group called the Exoneration Initiative. The group works to find legal snafus that indicate their clients were wrongfully convicted.

Riley, though, doesn't waste much time trying to keep his nose clean; perhaps as a result, not long after his release, somebody shoots him dead. The culprit, the investigating officers are certain after hearing from a witness to the crime, is the father of the girl Riley was convicted of raping and killing - a man who many times threatened to kill Riley if he ever got the chance. Back at the law office, Farrell agrees to defend the father, Doug Rush, whom he thinks did, in fact, do the deed. Not long thereafter, Rush skips bail and runs - and Farrell asks Abe Glitsky, Hardy's former police partner who's now a private detective mostly working for Hardy's firm, to track him down.

From that point on, the trail becomes a winding road with several turnoffs, at least one of which becomes a dead end (pun intended). Throw in a timely issue like police brutality, and you've got another well-written book in this entertaining series. My only complaint? The series namesake is noticeably absent throughout most of this story, so I'm hoping he gets to play a bigger role next time out. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.