TO PLAY THE FOOL

Celebrated author Laurie R. King dazzles mystery lovers once again in To Play the Fool her second Kate Martinelli mystery. When a band of homeless people cremate a beloved dog in San Francisco''s Golden Gate Park the authorities are willing to overlook a few broken regulations. But three weeks later when the dog''s owner gets the same fiery send-off the San Francisco Police Department has a real headache on its hands. The autopsy suggests homicide but Inspector Kate Martinelli and her partner Al Hawkin have little else to go on: a homeless victim with no positive ID a group of witnesses with little love for the cops and a possible suspect known only as Brother Erasmus who proves both articulate and impossible to understand.Erasmus has a genius for blending with his surroundings yet he stands out wherever he goes. He is by no means crazy—but he is a Fool. Kate begins the frustrating task of interrogating a man who communicates only through quotations. In Laurie R. King''s To Play the Fool trying to learn something of his history leads Kate along a twisting road to a disbanded cult long-buried secrets the thirst for spirituality and the hunger for bloody vengeance.