A Welcome Grave
Written by: Michael Koryta
ISBN: 978-1-74175-617-3
Allen & Unwin
321 pages
Reviewed by: Kylie Fox
“Sometime after midnight, on a moonless October night, one of the men I liked least in the world was murdered … The detectives went looking for suspects – people whose histories with Jefferson were adversarial and hostile. At the top of that list, they found me.”
Disgraced ex-cop, turned private investigator, Lincoln Perry, makes his third outing in this fast-paced and entertaining book. And boy does it open with a bang! With a murder – and a mighty brutal one at that.
Lincoln’s old sins come back to haunt him as the now-husband of his ex-fiancée (the man Lincoln beat up and lost his job over) is killed and he is catapulted straight to the top of the suspect list.
To complicate things, his ex hires him to notify the estranged son of his father’s death – and of his huge inheritance. What should have been a simple, routine job quickly turned to disaster when the son mistakes Lincoln for someone else and commits suicide right before his eyes.
As the only witness, Lincoln is now implicated in two suspicious deaths and the overzealous cops are determined to prove his guilt.
So begins a series of twists and turns as Lincoln fights to prove his innocence. But he soon discovers it’s not only the police he has to worry about – the real killers are determined to see him take the fall.
Lincoln’s character has developed over the course of the series and further still over the course of this latest book as he battles with the police, the killers, his feelings for his ex and with forming a new relationship. Every aspect of Lincoln’s life is challenged, creating a richer and more complex man than readers have previously met, all while still maintaining the humour that has made him endearing.
Every step that Lincoln takes, every time he feels like he’s making a little ground, a new piece of “evidence” is discovered to set him back again. So far as intricate plots go, this one has it all, contrived seemingly not from the author but by the characters themselves in their plot to implicate him.
The supporting cast of characters are equally well developed adding that believability factor that can so often be missing in books of this nature.
The book ends with a massive climax that should have been Lincoln’s shining moment but for the use of a certain character (resurfaced from the earlier books) who was used to save the day. Although I love this particular character, I felt that his use was a little too easy, as though the author had written Lincoln into a corner and could see no other way out.
Despite that, A Welcome Grave was led to a satisfying conclusion that left me waiting for more from both Lincoln Perry and his creator, Michael Koryta.
A highly recommended read for lovers of crime fiction.
