John Lescroart. The Motive (2005) 400 pp.
When the fire is doused in Paul Hanover’s Victorian house in San Francisco the charred bodies of two people are found. Dental records show that they are Paul and his live-in lover, but both died from bullet wounds. Inspector Sergeant Dan Cuneo is assigned to the case and he zeroes in on Paul’s daughter-in-law Catherine Hanover as the suspect, in part because she rejected Cuneo’s sexual advances. Deputy Chief Inspector Abe Glitsky is asked by the mayor to oversee Cuneo’s investigation because Paul was a friend and a heavy contributor to her campaign. Cuneo hates Abe and makes a run around him with the district attorney so they take the case to the grand jury where they hand down an indictment. Caroline asks attorney Dismas Hardy to represent her; he agrees to do so because she was his first love and because he believes she is innocent. He has his work cut out for him because the prosecution has an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence that shows Caroline had means, opportunity, and motive to kill her father-in-law and his lover.

H.K.