Shallow Grave

A Matt Sinclair Mystery
by Brian Thiem

Crooked Lane Books

Mystery & Thrillers

Pub Date 11 Jul 2017

I am reviewing a copy of Shallow Grave through Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley:

The Oakland Coroners office uncovers a Shallow Grave in the outskirts of the city, homicide detective Matt Sinclair is almost certain he will find a drug dealer who got caught in a turf war. But is shocked to find it is Phil Roberts, the commander of the departments intelligence until ad well as Matt Sinclair’s former partner.

Police Brass feel that it is the member of an outlaw motorcycle gang who murdered Phil Roberts, but Matt and his current partner Cathy Braddock aren’t satisfied that this is the case. As Sinclair and his partner selves into Phil Robert’s past, Secrets from both his work and personal life come to light. Secrets that some will go to any length to keep in the dark, but Sinclair refuses to stop even if it means muddying his former partners name and sabotaging his own career.

Will Sinclair be able to solve the murder of his former partner, and still keep his badge? Find out in Shallow Grave.

Five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

This is my first read by this author and I will definitely read more of his books. Matt Sinclair is a great lead character, flawed and determined. A very well written police procedural with great characters and excellent plot. Thank you to Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Goodreads and Amazon.

When the Oakland police find a body buried in a shallow grave in the city's outskirts, homicide sergeant Matt Sinclair is shocked to learn the victim is Phil Roberts, the commander of the police department's intelligence unit and Sinclair's former partner.

Sinclair and his partner, Cathy Braddock, investigate the murder. His bosses want to pin the murder on a dead member of an outlaw motorcycle gang and close the case quickly, but Sinclair isn't satisfied with that easy scenario. Sinclair looks at Roberts's current cases and finds some clues hinting at a regular meeting with a female companion. Is this signs of an affair, or something worse?

Sinclair is suspended from his duties by disobeying orders but can't stop himself from trying to find Roberts' killer. Sinclair ends up working with a FBI task force and follows a trail to Hilton Head Island to find Roberts' mystery woman. Corruption involving an ambitious Oakland politician and a nasty Russian businessman is key.

The author's experience as a police detective and military officer shows in his writing and adds realism to the plots and characters. This is another excellent entry in the Matt Sinclair detective series.

I received this book for free from Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Shallow grave by Brian Thiem.
a body buried in a shallow grave in the outskirts of the city, homicide sergeant Matt Sinclair expects to find a drug dealer caught in the crosshairs of a turf war. Instead, the victim is identified as Phil Roberts, the commander of the police department’s intelligence unit and Sinclair’s former partner.

Police brass want to pin the murder on a dead member of an outlaw motorcycle gang and they want the case closed quickly, but Sinclair and his current partner, Cathy Braddock, aren’t satisfied with that answer. As Sinclair delves into the details of Roberts’s past, secrets from his work and personal life come to the surface--secrets that some people will go to any length to keep buried. But Sinclair won’t stop until he finds the truth, even if it means sacrificing his former partner’s reputation and possibly his own career.
This was a really good read with good characters. I liked Sinclair. He wouldn't stop til he got the killer. 5*. Netgalley and crooked lane books.

What a well done procedural! Thiem's background shines through in the details of this well written novel. Some might see Matt as the classic tortured detective (he is) but give him a chance and he'll surprise you. His relationship with his partner Cathy is especially well done as they look for the truth behind the murder of his ex-partner Roberts. This one has enough twists and small red herrings to keep you guessing. Thiem makes good use of his Oakland setting, as well as the questions of corruption and exploitation. I'd not read the first two books but I enjoyed this one and will definitely look for more in this series. Thanks to net galley for the ARC. Try this one if you enjoy complex and entertaining mysteries.

Matt Sinclair and his partner Cathy Braddock catch the case of a body buried in a shallow grave when the rest of the force is dealing with one motorcycle gang member killing another. They are surprised to learn that the victim is Phil Roberts who is the sergeant of the intel unit. He also trained both Matt and Cathy and was Matt's partner too.

Now the hunt is on for the one who killed a police officer. Matt is determined to find out what happened to the man he had a falling out with a few months earlier. His investigation puts him at odds with the Chief of Police when it looks like a city Councilman who is a leading candidate for mayor might be involved. Matt has gotten in trouble for investigating this councilman before.

Matt finds himself suspended from the force and discovering things that lead him to believe that Roberts might have been a dirty cop. He needs to find out if that is true before the huge police funeral for him.

Matt is an interesting character. He is an alcoholic and has issues with his father that have been unresolved since his childhood. In this story, his father suffers a heart attack and Matt is just going to keep on working until his colleagues almost force him to go support his mother during his father's illness. Matt is also relationship-shy but starting something with a nurse who is a friend of his partner Cathy.

This was a fascinating police procedural. Fans of that genre who like complex characters will enjoy this story.

NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books kindly provided me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Sergeants Matt Sinclair and his partner, Cathy Braddock, homicide detectives with the Oakland Police Department, are called to the scene of a body found partially buried in a wooded area, they aren’t prepared to learn that it’s their former training officer—and current of commander of the intelligence unit—Phil Roberts.

Since so much of what Phil investigated was classified, determining what he was working on when he died is nearly impossible, but Sinclair doesn’t let that stop him. The more they discover, however, the more unsure they are that they ever really knew Phil at all. Risking his career and the reputation of his dead friend and mentor, Sinclair will stop at nothing from finding out the truth about what Phil was up to and who killed him.

This is the third installment in the series, and the author—who was in law enforcement for over 20 years, and who served in the military for almost 30—has certainly found a new career path as a writer. The pacing continues to improve, and by slowly revealing new aspects of Sinclair’s past in each book, he creates a more intriguing, complex, and realistic main character. If he keeps this up, I have no doubt Thiem’s protagonist, Matt Sinclair, will soon represent Northern California law enforcement the way Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch represents Southern California—as a flawed cop who stops at nothing to get justice for the victims of homicide, no matter who they are. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite series, and can’t wait for the next exciting installment!

A very well written detective mystery. Good plot. I really enjoyed this book.

A satisfying police procedural filled with suspense, betrayal and subterfuge. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters, in very large part due to the expert way in which Thiem fleshed them out and made them real. No hard-to-believe super-heroes here; just a cast of hard-working law enforcement officers and detectives digging hard for facts, distasteful as some of them turn out to be. A spell-binder, and well worth reading. Recommend!

Very good police procedural, loved all the behind the scenes police work and forensics. Interesting mystery behind the death of Phil. It keeps the pages turning as you try to put the pieces together to figure out that happened. I would definitely enjoy reading another book in this series.

A body found buried in a shallow grave – the cops assume it’s yet another victim of a drug war in Oakland, California, but this victim is anything but random. He’s in charge of the police department’s intelligence unit and former partner of homicide detective Matt Sinclair. The powers that be want the case hushed up quickly, blaming one of the key druge players, but Matt and current partnerCathy Braddock think there’s much more to the story. It turns out the dead cop, Phil Roberts, wasn’t as squeaky clean as he appeared and it looks like someone committed the ultimate crime to make sure those secrets stayed hidden. A smart, savvy police drama with sharp writing and believable characters