‘Grey in the Dark’ by John Lincoln

Published by No Exit Press,
23 February 2023.
ISBN: 978-0-85730516-9

Gethen Grey runs a legal team – Last Resort Legals. Working with him are two women, Bex and Lee plus a part time investigator Deano. They mainly deal with convicted prisoners trying to prove their innocence.

Gethen lives with his thirteen-year-old daughter, Hattie, Catriona (Cat) his wife having left fairly recently to live with another man.

They remain in touch; Cat visits every Saturday to take Hattie out. She is an N.H.S. psychiatrist specialising in drug rehabilitation in South Wales. One day she tells Gethen of the case of a Morgan Hopkins. He was convicted of the brutal killing of Kelly Rowlands and is serving time in prison. There were many suspects at the time and Hopkins’ sister Linda a friend of Cat’s, is convinced her brother is innocent of the crime. Cat recommends Gethen and he agrees to reinvestigate the case.

Following a lead, he goes undercover and joins a support group for recovering addicts that his wife helps out with from time to time. She suggests he investigates as there is a certain university lecturer attending whom Cat dislikes and suspects. He certainly seems to fit the bill.

Gethen does actually have a gambling addiction which he is trying to overcome. However, Gethen’s suspicions then fall onto a brother and sister, both police officers at the time of the murder. Things really now become confusing when it is discovered Kelly was paid a substantial amount of compensation for the misdiagnosis of her son’s illness which led to his death. She never touched the money and had spoken about leaving it to a charity. Was she killed by her next of kin and who is it? Did she leave a Will and if so, where is it?

Then there is another murder. This leads Gethen to have to confront one of his worst nightmares when he has to go down very claustrophobic mines, only to eventually find another body down there. Can things get even more complicated? Yes, they certainly can. Gethen really has his work cut out this time.

A brilliantly descriptive, at times very amusing story airing the seedier side of Cardiff. I thoroughly enjoyed every page and highly recommend it to readers who love tangled webs to unravel.
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Reviewer: Tricia Chappell

John Lincoln is the transparent pseudonym of John Williams, the novelist, biographer and crime fiction reviewer for the Mail on Sunday. His first book Into The Badlands explores 'a vital mix of literary criticism, personality profile, and imaginary geography' (New Statesman and Society) and has become a crime fiction classic. His true crime account of a notorious miscarriage of justice, Bloody Valentine, is a cult classic, described by Benjamin Zephaniah as his favourite book. Since then he’s written eight more books including the Cardiff Trilogy of novels and biographies of Michael X, Shirely Bassey and Eartha Kitt.

Tricia Chappell.  I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.