S.A. COSBY - MY DARKEST PRAYER (2019)

Synopsis/blurb...

Whether it's working at his cousin's funeral home or tossing around the local riff raff at his favorite bar, Nathan Waymaker is a man who knows how to handle the bodies. 

A former Marine and Sheriff's deputy, Nathan has built a reputation in his small Southern town as a man who can help when all other avenues have been exhausted. 

When a local minister with grandiose ambitions is found dead, Nathan is approached by his parishioners who feel the local police are dragging their feet with the investigation. What starts out as an easy payday soon descends into a maze of mayhem filled with wannabe gangsters, vicious crime lords, porn stars, crooked police officers and a particularly treacherous preacher and his mysterious wife. Nathan must use all his varied skills and some of his wit to navigate the murky waters of small town corruption even as dark secrets of his own threaten to come to the surface.

A cracking debut novel from S.A. Cosby featuring an intriguing main character, Nathan Waymaker investigating the death of a local preacher.

Funeral home setting, Queen County, Virginia, family business, a dead minister with a dodgy background, an estranged porn-star daughter, an ex-cop, ex-military, pall bearer investigator, with a sad family history - coping with the loss of parents and major issues with the corrupt small town PD - one he was once a part of - which allowed the rich harbinger of death to skate, anger management problems, violence, off-the-books burials, a trusted friend with a deadly skill-set, bar brawls, gangsters, skimming and money laundering, bible-study classes - nudge nudge wink wink, hot sex, threats, blackmail, intimidation, more death, kidnap, hotter sex and plenty more including answers to the initial mystery.

I enjoyed time in the company of Nathan. He has a lot of admirable traits..... loyalty, intelligence, determination and bravery with a refusal to be intimated or cowed by threats against him. There's a hot headed-ness about him, which sometimes clouds his judgement but makes for a voyeuristic entertainment and ensures that time spent in his company is never dull; regardless of  whether he's having banter with his cousin and boss, drinking in a bar, flirting with a waitress, having bedroom time with the not so choked up bereaved daughter of the dead minster or storming into the police station. There's an undercurrent of danger and barely suppressed violence that clings to him like a shadow. He's definitely a man you would want on your side.

There's a decent mystery at the heart of the book, which is resolved. In addition we get more detail on Waymaker's past and discover some of his secrets. In turn he gets confirmation regarding his suspicions into the aftermath of his parent's death.

I'm hoping that Cosby has plans afoot for further Nathan Waymaker books.

Character, pace, action, setting - all in abundance.

4.5 from 5   

Read - June, 2019
Published - 2019
Page count - 222
Source - purchased copy
Format - paperback