Changes to come will include a snappier line of text at the bottom: A man, a city, long buried secrets.
Murdered or in hiding?
In a city poised for political change, Clay Tempero—disbarred, estranged from his daughter, and scraping by as a private investigator—is offered one last chance at relevance. Hired to find a boy presumed dead, Clay is pulled into a case that mirrors his own childhood scars.
The client is Helena Cowper, an elegant political hopeful with a compassionate front and a shadowed past. As Clay follows the trail of the missing child, he unearths not only lies and institutional failures, but also the fragile threads that bind and unravel families. The truth is dangerous, but silence may cost him everything.
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite
Deceit is a private investigator mystery written by Mark McGinn.
Clay Tempero is a suspended Australian attorney who’s working as a private investigator until his suspension is lifted. Some of his work is of the tawdry variety and involves catching spouses in illicit affairs. When one client retains him to catch her spouse cheating, Clay figures it’s a routine job until he bursts in on the cheating spouse and sees that his sex partner is actually an underage boy.
This strikes a chord for the private eye who still is cautious about men’s rooms after an incident that happened while he was a child. Clay’s friend, attorney Sean O’Keeffe, has been giving him work when he can. His newest assignment is helping craft a defense strategy for Lou Blanc, a pop singer who’s been charged in connection with the disappearance of her little boy.
Mark McGinn’s private investigator novel, Deceit, is dark, gritty and intense. Clay Tempero is the perfect noir detective, who lives lean, and whose relations with his father and daughter are strained, to say the least. McGinn’s story is taut and atmospheric, and his writing style fits the story perfectly.
As I was reading Deceit, I started wondering if there were other Clay Tempero novels around or planned, as a series is sure to be a welcome addition for any mystery buff’s bookshelf. Deceit delivers action, suspense and an insider’s look into
politics, law and life Down Under.
It’s most highly recommended.
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