LIMITED TIME OFFER. Get 3 months for $0.99 a month. Get this deal.
To Play the Fool cover art

To Play the Fool

A Kate Martinelli Mystery, Book 2

 Preview
Get this deal Try for $0.00
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.
Amazon Prime member exclusive: get any 2 titles with your free trial. Terms apply.
Just $0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 audiobook per month of your choice from our unparalleled catalog.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

To Play the Fool

Written by: Laurie R. King
Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
Get this deal Try for $0.00

$14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime. Offers ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm PT.

$14.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

THE SECOND BOOK IN THE KATE MARTINELLI MYSTERY SERIES

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 SFPD 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.

©1995 Laurie R. King (P)2013 Recorded Books Detective Fiction Mystery Police Procedural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Homelessness

What the critics say

“Beautifully written, with clearly defined and engaging characters.” —The Boston Globe

“Its characters, and its language, linger in the mind long after more conventional entries in the genre are gone.” —San Jose Mercury News
All stars
Most relevant
All of your works are also entertaining and a learning experience and a lesson in compassion With gratitu

Genio Your work is always engaging and catholic as in all enbracing j

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This second title in the Kate Martinelli series is both classic Laurie R King writing and Alyssa Bresnahan narration. But the transfer from original cassette format to digital is embarrassingly poor. "This ends side 1 of cassette 1. Please turn cassette over and start side 2 at the same point." This important transition in the plot and atmosphere was actually left in the digital version. If I thought there was any hope of getting a properly made copy, I'd return this in a moment. Apparently Audible doesn't care.

Excellent story and narrator, dreadful editing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.