SUMMARY

Student Alistair Minton is missing, and his parents want Sam Dyke to find him. He does … and then learns the reason Alistair disappeared. It harks back to an event that his parents, Carol and Giles, have been hiding both from others and from themselves since Alistair was a child. As he delves deeper, Dyke uncovers two murders separated by fifteen years. And he learns they’re connected by people with a moral blindness and a willingness to act as if ends always justify the means.

Racing to solve the case before his client participates in an important election, the question Dyke must face is how he can preserve his own integrity and still bring the murderer to justice.

Written in the tradition of Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald, The Lonely Grave examines how damaged families can extend the hurt and shame experienced by one generation into the next, with results that are damaging to all.

“In a world where seemingly every protagonist is a super hero of some kind, it’s fabulous to find a private investigator who solves his mysteries one clue at a time. Keith Dixon’s Sam Dyke is smart enough to figure it out, tough enough to gut it out, and wry and dry enough to keep you turning the pages from beginning to end. In this latest Dyke installment, The Lonely Grave, Dixon hands his PI a political family whose fuse is lit and inexorably burning. Hoping Dyke works out the gritty details before the bomb goes off is a pleasure because Dixon tells a damn good story, the bottom line in any crime drama.“

Rich Leder

Extract

When I’d finished with Wolfe and Sally I returned to the giant living room and found the Mintons in almost the same poses as when I arrived. Their lives seemed to be lived glacially. Even the house seemed mired in time, each room a perfectly drawn image of a singular moment that had died as soon as it was created.

I broke the silence by telling them I was leaving and I’d be in touch when I had something useful to say.

Giles Minton raised his hand: it was holding a cheque made out to cover initial expenses. I had asked for this earlier, as I usually did, but I didn’t always get it. Perhaps he was feeling guilty for arguing with his wife in my presence.

He said, ‘I hope this covers it. I don’t expect you to keep coming back for more.’

‘For a minute there I forgot you were a banker.’

He almost smiled but thought better of it. He was a man of limited expressions and he harboured them zealously.

‘I read about you after Carol contacted you yesterday. You’re not exactly what I think of when it comes to private detectives in this part of the world. You seem rather more …explosive.’

‘My clients haven’t always been well-considered. Perhaps I should vet them more carefully.’

‘Perhaps you should.’