Cemetery Lake by Paul Cleave

Cemetery Lake begins in a cold and rainy graveyard, where Private Detective Theodore Tate is overseeing an exhumation—a routine job for the weathered former cop. But when doubts are raised about the identity of the body found in the coffin, the case takes a sinister turn. Tate knows he should walk away and let his former colleagues on the police force deal with it, but his strong sense of justice intervenes.

Complicating matters are a few loose ends from Tate’s past. Even good guys have secrets, and Tate thought his were dead and buried for good. With time running out and a violent killer lurking, will he manage to stay one step ahead of the police, or will his truth be unearthed?

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I think I have a new favourite rouge ex-detective (sorry Bosch)! Enter Theo Tate who is still recovering from a horrible accident that turned his life upside down two years ago. He lost his job at the police department and now works as a private detective. Tate lives by his own rules and isn’t going to listen to anyone, especially anyone in the police department.

I was a fan of Tate for the most part, but there were definitely some moves that he did that I questioned and didn’t agree with. Cleave did a great job making him so flawed, but the reader was still able to draw sympathy for him and you were rooting for him the whole time.

The mystery, the investigation and the conclusion was done perfectly. I loved how there were little shockers thrown throughout the novel that had me wanting more! I was surprised how everything tied together in the end and was shocked by the murderer and the reason why!

4 calculators out of a potential 5. Don’t let this book fall off your radar! I’m so excited that there are 3 more Tate novels in this series!