A great book really enjoyed this not at all what I was expecting all different twists and turns highly recommend reading this

Dig Two Graves is the first in a series following Detective Solomon Gray. Billed as ‘a gripping crime thriller’, I can confirm that it lives up to that promise.

When a teenage boy is found splattered into the concrete outside a block of flats in Margate, it stirs the muddy pool Solomon Gray’s past. Things become complicated when murder is suspected and a direct link is found between Gray and the case.

The detective begins to unravel. While he follows the threads in his personal and professional lives, further deaths close in on Gray in ever-decreasing circles until even he struggles to understand why everything he touches crumbles to dust.

Gray is anything but. While he may have a sullen exterior and is haunted by unrelenting ghosts, he also wears a beating heart on his sleeve. His past is bleak. His career is on the ropes. His future offers no hope and if he doesn’t seek medical help he’ll lose his job. He drinks to remember and to forget and rage forever lurks just beneath the surface. As he wanders from case to case and the world around him paints him into ever-tighter corners, the exploration of his personality drills deeper than many reads in the procedural genre. When married together with the details of the murders he’s investigating, you have a multi-faceted novel that will satisfy much more than just the curiosity as to the identity and motivations of the killers.

There’s a lot of promise here and if you’re looking for a new police series to take you through your reading in 2018, this may well be exactly what you want.

Dig Two Graves is published by Bastei Entertainment.

Synopsis/blurb.....

Was it suicide ... or murder?

When teenager Nick Buckingham tumbles from the fifth floor of an apartment block, Detective Sergeant Solomon Gray answers the call with a sick feeling in his stomach. The victim was just a kid, sixteen years old. And the exact age the detective's son, Tom, would've been, had he not gone missing at a funfair ten years ago. Each case involving children haunts Gray with the reminder that his son may still be out there - or worse, dead. The seemingly open and shut case of suicide twists into a darker discovery. Buckingham and Gray have never met, so why is Gray's number on the dead teenager's mobile phone?

With his boss, Detective Inspector Yvonne Hamson, Gray begins to unravel a murky world of abuse, lies, and corruption. An investigator from the Met is called in to assist, setting the local police on edge. And when the body of Reverend David Hill is found shot to death in the vestry of Gray's old church, Gray wonders how far the depravity stretches and who might be next. Nothing seems connected, and yet there is one common thread: Detective Sergeant Solomon Gray, himself. As the bodies pile up, Gray must face his own demons. Crippled by loss but determined to find the truth, Gray takes the first step on the long road of redemption.

Set in the once grand town of Margate in the south of England, the now broken and depressed seaside resort becomes its own character in this dark detective thriller. Dig Two Graves is the first book in a series featuring Detective Sergeant Solomon Gray. The crime series is perfect for fans of Ian Rankin, Stuart MacBride, and Peter James.

"Keith Nixon does for Margate what Peter James did for Brighton … As dark and brooding as the wind-lashed shores of the North Sea, and with its disturbing echoes of the Elm Guest House scandal and suggestions of deep-seated institutional corruption, Dig Two Graves is a superb addition to the rich Brit Crime scene."
- Tim Baker, CWA shortlisted author of Fever City
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My take....

An interesting series opener with Nixon's Solomon Gray. Gray has issues. The disappearance of his son, Tom ten years ago still haunts him. He holds himself accountable for Tom's disappearance. The aftermath - the decline of his marriage, the suicide of his wife and his ongoing separation from his surviving daughter - are all matters of ongoing regret. He still harbours hopes of finding his son alive and every spare minute is spent on reviewing the case file or exploring new possibilities however unlikely or tenuous. It's fair to say a huge shadow blights Gray's life and his sorrow resonates throughout the book.

The case in hand - a sixteen year old boy going over a fifth floor balcony, suicide or something else?
This is a police procedural - so something else is the order of the day.

I liked this one, I enjoyed the dynamics of the police force involved in and around Gray. His direct boss is Yvonne Hamson. Her boss Carslake is an old friend of Gray's and the personal connection sometimes irritates her as Gray can on occasion try and circumvent the chain of command. The other member of the team is Michael Fowler. We also have interaction and a sympathetic relationship with the pathologist, Ben Clough .

Other deaths follow and there is also the involvement of a Met Officer in the original case. The dead sixteen year old having had some London links.

The setting is Margate, a Kent seaside resort that has definitely seen better days. That I visited the town itself a year or two ago, lent a certain familiarity to the backdrop. Definitely somewhere I want to return to, though probably only on the written page.

Dig Two Graves is short for a police procedural - approximately 230 pages long - though the novel never feels rushed. Nixon's just gets to where he wants to take the reader without any undue fuss. That said the relationships and characters of the main players are developed and interesting. There is a resolution to the initial tragedy and the subsequent deaths, but there is definitely some unfinished business for Solomon Gray.

4 from 5

Keith Nixon has his website here.
http://www.keithnixon.co.uk/

Burn the Evidence is the second in the Solomon Gray series and was read not long after this one.
Nixon also has a couple of other series under his belt - the Konstantin Files and a series with Caradoc, set in Ancient Britain. Some of each have been previously enjoyed.

Read in March, 2018
Published - 2017
Page count - 226
Source - Net Galley after approval from publisher Bastei Entertainment
Format - Kindle

https://col2910.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/keith-nixon-dig-two-graves-2017.html

Absolutely terrific police procedural. A great reminder that the best crime fiction stories are really first and foremost about people and what they do and what they become when faced with the most nerve-wracking and horrible circumstances. Here, we have a British policeman whose life has been torn asunder more than anyone who could possibly bear and who could be described as a walking deadman, that is, dead inside. And yet he soldiers on, barely permitting himself to think or feel. There's a few mysteries at the heart of this story, but the magic of the story is in the realistic characters that Nixon creates. This was a truly unexpected treat, far superior to most of the police procedurals you might pick up.

10 years ago,Solomon Gray's six year old son disappeared at a fun fair. Needless to say that this tragedy had a deep impact on Solomon Gray and his family. Now he is investigating the suicide/murder of a sixteen year old boy and the murder of a priest(who was well known to his wife).The thing is,I just couldn't connect with Solomon Gray. He is aggressive, keeps vital information to himself,lies,is arrogant, self centered...
He is just thoroughly unpleasant(in any normal police station he would have been put on indeterminate leave a long time ago). That said,his character is extremely well elaborated while the other characters are cardboard figures,pastiche perhaps. One has the impression that the story is not so important, that it comes second to the development of the character of Solomon Gray.

Dig Two Graves is the debut in a new series from author Keith Nixon and publisher be-ebooks. Less of a police procedural than a psychological thriller, it's nevertheless a taut, well plotted ride. Soloman Gray is a disillusioned, depressed, alcoholic and completely dysfunctional man. His young son went missing 10 years ago, his wife has died and his career as an inspector is hanging by a thread.

When he's called to the scene of an apparent suicide, the coincidence of the victim's age matching his missing son's leaves him even more shaken and disoriented. Things go from bad to worse when Solomon's own contact info is found on the victim's mobile.

Every step forward shoves Sol deeper into his self destructive cycle and implicates him more closely with the ongoing investigation as the bodies pile up.

I personally found Sol's unrelenting depression and self destruction wearing. He wasn't a particularly likable or sympathetic character. The writing and plotting were, however, masterful and I felt genuinely interested to see the characters' development.

The denouement was well done (and somewhat surprising) and sets up the next book(s) in the series. I'll look forward to seeing how Mr. Nixon carries on, and hope the future is somewhat brighter for poor Sol.

Four stars, solid plotting, good dialogue.
Published 10th October, 2017
227 pages, Kindle and Audible formats

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

Detective Sergeant Solomon Gray is a man who has never gotten over the loss of his young son who disappeared on a day out years ago, so when a 16 year old boy who is the age his son would be if he were still around falls from a fifth floor window he starts investigating.
As he investigates further a number of people he knows and are close to are murdered making him a prime suspect. He needs to solve the murders or end up arrested himself. Some wonderful twists late in the book came as a complete surprise. A thoroughly enjoyable read. Recommended.

I did like this book but do feel that it never really got going though.
The main character, Solomon Gray has suffered two massive tragedies and this obviously has an effect on his job as a Detective, but I just couldn't connect to him.
Most police crime books draw me in and I'm rooting for the Detective who has had all the bad luck but Detective Gray didn't really do it for me, I'm sorry to say.
I will read the next book in the series when it's out and see if I 'warm' to him though.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Bastei Entertainment for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is the first book in the DS Solomon Gray series and a very promising start This is a very good character study of Solomon, rather than a straight police procedural He comes over as a very complex, lonely and driven person who has suffered great loss in his life. His 6 year old son disappeared 10 years ago and he is haunted by his feelings of guilt. Solomon does little to help himself and I found myself feeling quite frustrated by this.Nevertheless, I did not guess the murderer and I would read the next book in the series. Thank you Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Goodreads.

I received a free electronic copy of this British police procedural from Netgalley, Keith Nixon, and Bastie Entertainment in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

I really am enjoying Solomon Gray. He is essentially depressed to the max with good reason, but is able to turn that angst and the memory of his personal losses into a tool to find lost souls, so that could be considered a good thing by anyone but Solomon Gray. I am enjoying Pennance as well - no nonsense and no politics allowed. I want to like Hamson but she makes that difficult at times. In any case I am very pleased that this is the first of a new series, and am adding Keith Nixon to my must read authors list. This may keep my happy until the next release of the BBC series Happy Valley.

This is the first book in a new mystery suspense series called Detective Solomon Gray. Gray lost his son several years ago, kidnapped and never found this led Gray to never stop looking for him. When a case of a 16 year old boy the same age is son would be is found dead it stirs up a lot of emotion and questions. Will Gray ever find out what happened to the boy, what happened to his son? do they tie together? Is there even more evil out there than even Grays is aware of and will death come calling ? Thank you NetGalley and Keith Nixon for allowing me to read this ARC and to write a honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

While the book was readable, I kept finding myself wanting to slap the main character - "Get out of you head and all it's misery and PAY ATTENTION to the world you're in NOW!" While it was readable, I found the characters a little flat (and irritating) and the plot line a little too contrived / coincidental. I did finish the book, mostly so I could go on a read something else.

It all starts when a teenage boy apparently falls from the balcony of an apartment. Was this an accident? murder? suicide? He's only 16 years old. And although Gray does not know this young man, Gray's phone number is on his phone.

This is not the only death that somehow involves Solomon. His parish priest is found shot to death in his church. And when Solomon has a one-night-stand, the woman in question is also found shot to death the next morning. Is Solomon a killer? Or a victim?

Solomon is a very vivid character. He is a man who has suffered immensely with losses in his life. His then 5-year-old son was abducted 10 years ago. He has never been seen since. But there's not a day goes by that Solomon pours over police reports and newspaper accountings looking for something .. anything ... that might be a lead. Five years after that his wife took an intentional overdose of medications, putting an end to her suffering. Solomon has a daughter, but she chose to live with her grandparents and he hasn't seen her since his wife died.

And yet he is a very strong man ... cranky at times, depressed at times, but still he recognizes his first job is justice for the victims he encounters in his job. Not everyone likes him, but he doesn't seem to care.

The book bounces back and forth between what he's encountering today and memories of when his son disappeared. I couldn't put this book down. As a parent, I had so much empathy for what he had gone through. As a member of a law enforcement family, I could understand why his job means so much ... it's all he has left.

Many thanks to the author / Bastei Entertainment / Netgalley for the advance digital copy of this crime thriller. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Start of a new series for Keith Nixon and it was pretty good. Set in southern England, DS Solomon Gray, already dealing with more than his fair share of loss and heartbreak........his 6 year old son has been missing for 10 years.........gets the call when a teenage boy dies from a fall off a 5th floor balcony, and the initial investigation reveals a murky connection to Gray. Not long after, a 2nd body is added to the count and Gray's team must sift through multiple layers of, well, everything.

With compassionate and believable characters and an interesting plot (I honestly had no idea what was going to happen next) this was a good book and I look forward to #2 in the series.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book I think it was a great start to a new series. I am looking forward to future books. I enjoyed everything about this book, the characters were likeable, the plot interesting and there were plenty of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. It was one of those books that you have a hard time putting down. A solid 5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher and Keith Nixon for the eARC.
10 Years ago, DSI Soloman Gray took his 6-year old son, Tom, to the funfair for his birthday - only to lose him. 5 Years later, his wife commits suicide. In the last decade, Gray has been eaten up by unbearable grief and guilt and when he is called to the scene of a suspected suicide, the 16-year old teenager reminds him of Tom, ripping old wounds a little deeper.
He's a lonely, driven man who has obsessively tried to solve the mystery of his little boy's disappearance all these years and it has taken its toll on him.
When Gray is questioned as a suspect after 3 subsequent murders, he's at his most vulnerable, but help comes from a surprising direction.
His boss, DI Yvonne Hamson and her boss. DCI Carslake, are both characters who grew on me as the book progressed. Even though I got a little irritated with Gray at times, my overwhelming feeling was one of empathy and the ending left me with an optimistic feeling. I have a sneaking suspicion Gray will be much less depressed in the next book, but just as committed to finding out what happened to Tom.
As for the murderer(s), I had no clue, it was quite the surprise!
A well written mystery with a likeable cast of characters, I highly recommend it.

While a decent crime novel I wasn't particularly keen on the main character of Gray. His navel gazing and general bad attitude while understandable was tiresome.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Bastei Entertainment for an advance copy of Dig Two Graves, the debut novel in a projected series featuring DS Solomon Grey of Margate police.

DS Solomon Grey is haunted by the disappearance of his six year old son ten years ago so when a 16 year old youth falls from a balcony he is motivated to find out what happened but as the body count rises he finds himself in too deep.

Dig Two Graves is an interesting read as it is more a character study of Sol than a police procedural and the crime definitely takes second place to Sol's experiences. The hint is in the title, taken from the Chinese proverb "when seeking revenge first dig two graves". In this case it's not Sol seeking revenge but he is digging his own grave with his self destructive behaviour and attitudes.

I was a bit disappointed in this novel as I expected it to be a police procedural and it clearly isn't. The crime investigation is rather perfunctory and wrapped up in the same manner at the end. It is all about Sol and as he's a distinctly unpleasant individual it's a bit of a dreary read. He hasn't come to terms with Tom's disappearance and his guilt over it so he is now a curmudgeonly, self pitying, self destructive individual with an obsessive need to find his son. Some of it is understandable as the reader slowly finds out in flashback chapters what happened 10 years ago but the sympathy soon wears off when he makes no effort to help himself.

I would like to think that the glimmer of hope offered at the end of Dig Two Graves will make the sequel a more interesting read for me.

Dig Two Graves is a solid novel, just not to my taste.

Incredible how Keith Nixon immediately brings u headlong into a gripping page turner with detailed characters and places. How quickly time moves and yet how slowly, this sets the pace of the novel. A broken man but undefeated, detective Sargent Gray, trying to make better the unforgiving world around him. Struggling with loss himself in a job where everyday, loss is a major factor in others lives. He reflects on his own past tangled in reminders with his present cases. Romance unforseen beckons ds gray allowing this author to wrap you in a warm blanket in one chapter only to swing you around to be chilled to the bone in the next. Expertly put together the finale ascending to a twist you'll never see coming.