Name: To Play the Fool
ISBN: 9780553574555

Laurie R. King

When an anonymous homeless man is murdered amidst his band of fellow homeless in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, Inspector Kate Martinelli and her partner, Al Hawkin, uncover a chief suspect in the eccentric Brother Erasmus. Reprint.

To Play the Fool

Cindy Lieberman

3.5 rounded up. I’m going to stick with this series because of its emotional and intellectual heft, not for its insights into how police solve crime-related mysteries. There are plenty of books out there that do it well. No as many that delve into the psychiatric makeup of the perpetrators and the psychological toll such cases take on those around them and on the detectives who unravel the case. In this instance, a homeless man who goes by the name Erasmus and talks only by quoting the Bible or Shakespeare, attracts crowds to the park on weekends. When a body is torched in a funeral pyre, Erasmus is suspected. But could this peace-preaching senior citizen have actually done it?

Martha F.

Rhiannon Mansfield

The first cremation the homeless people held in Golden Gate Park was for a dog; their second pyre held a much larger body. To find the one responsible for these deaths, Kate Martinelli sets out on a quest for Brother Erasmus -- an enigmatic creature who has befriended the homeless and speaks only in quotations.

To Play the Fool

Reviews

Highlights