Treasure Hunt

John Lescroart never disappoints. I'm a big fan, have been since his first book. His characters and story lines keep you riveted to your seat. Once I start one of his books, I find it hard to stop. Treasure Hunt, featuring members of the Hunt Club, was terrific right til the end. The only bad thing about reading John Lescroart's books is the long wait for the next one.

John Lescroart, long known for his Dismas Hardy novels, struck gold a few years ago with THE HUNT CLUB, which introduced Wyatt Hunt's San Francisco-based private investigative service. The book was so popular that Lescroart probably could have phoned in TREASURE HUNT to similar acclaim. Instead, he has given us one of his most complex, riveting and entertaining works to date. TREASURE HUNT begins with Mickey Dade, one of the Hunt Club's associate investigators, discovering a body near San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts. The victim is Dominic Como, a high-profile social activist who sat on several non-profit, big-budget boards in the city. It is quickly determined that Como achieved room temperature as the result of a murder most foul, and his killing sets off shock waves among the anointed elite. Dade comes up with a not-entirely altruistic plan to help solve the crime and at the same time revive the Hunt Club's sagging business prospects by signing off as a clearing house, if you will, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the murderer from informants who ordinarily would not be interested in talking with the police. A reward fund is raised, and the separation of the wheat from the chaff begins. As it develops, one name that comes up early is Alicia Thorne, a beautiful young woman who had been employed by Como as his driver and who also happens to be the sister of a friend of Dade's. It is rumored that she had been working under Como in more than one sense and --- at the demand of Como's wife --- had been fired shortly before his murder. Dade is almost instantly smitten with Alicia, who is a troubled person with an even more troubling history. Things become more complicated when a newspaper article reveals that Como and others were involved in some highly suspect deals that were the subject of a Federal investigation, the results of which were scheduled to be published at the time Como died. When another individual, who worked on a board with Como, is also found murdered, Alicia is further caught up in the web of suspicion. And when yet another incident occurs, even Dade suspects that Alicia might not be what she appears to be. Meanwhile, Hunt attempts to maintain an objective point of view during the investigation, ultimately bringing all of the principals together near the end of the book for a series of Hercules Poirot-style revelations that surprise yet make perfect sense. The main protagonist of the story, as with Lescroart's other novels, is the city of San Francisco, particularly its streets and (most of all, in this case) restaurants. But what is especially entertaining here is the manner in which he reveals the inner workings of the perpetual motion machine known as the non-profit organization and how such an animal becomes intertwined with the political machine to create a maw into which great piles of taxpayer money disappear. TREASURE HUNT should be required reading for that reason alone. There is much more to

Treasure Hunt is the 3rd installment in Lescroart's Hunt Club series, featuring Wyatt Hunt, a San Francisco P.I. If you don't remember the 2nd book (I barely did), since it was published about 3 years ago, Hunt's assistant, Tamara, walked out of the office six months previously at the start of this book. Her boyfriend, Craig, who was an investigator at the firm, was outed as a real bad dude and it shook everyone to their core. Tamara's brother, Mickey, who also works at the firm as an all around driver and errand boy, steps up to the plate to try to get the firm and his sister out of their economic and emotional slump. When a prominent member of the non profit community is found murdered, the effect is far reaching, and involves Mickey and Tamara, their grandfather Jim, and Mickey's new friend, Alicia Thorpe, who is the prime suspect. Once again, Lescroart takes us behind the scene of SF politics and the seamy underside of the world of non profits. The book was very hard for me to put down, and it was suspenseful and well paced. While I prefer the Dismas Hardy series, I am truly looking forward to the next Hunt Club installment. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later, so I can remember what happened in this book! I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good "who dunnit". I was kept guessing until the very end.

In San Francisco private investigator Wyatt Hunt is feeling the economic down turn as clients are almost nonexistent. His receptionist Tamara Dade quit leaving Wyatt with one employee her brother, Mickey, who is bored and wants field work, but no clients hire the firm. Mickey has his chance when he finds the body of activist Dominic Como, who was on the board of over a dozen charities. He persuades his boss to let him investigate, which should bring in fame and money. Several suspects surface with strong motives from money to jealousy, but the prime person that Hunt and Dade focus on is Alicia Thorpe; and not just because she is beautiful, but due to her acting as if she is concealing something from the cops and the sleuths. The latest Wyatt Hunt private investigator case (see The Hunt Club) is a fast-paced thriller that seems to go nowhere until a final gala with cops and suspects so that the hero can pull a dead rabbit out of the hat. Still Treasure Hunt is fun to follow as Wyatt and Mickey work the city streets to solve the case of the charity mogul murder. Harriet Klausner