Combustible, by David Wilson, is the first in his Sam Lawson detective series. I don’t usually read hard boiled mysteries but this one was a good one to start with.

Lawson is a burned out cop who drinks too much and annoys his fellow officers. But a case involving a burned victim in a house, and a new female pathologist that he is interested in, inspires him to actually investigate.

By all accounts, Joe Reddington, prison guard, was a mean and abusive man, loathed by everyone. (Someone, one might almost say, who deserves to die). So who actually did the deed? The angry son? The abused wife? Or one of the prisoners who Reddington abused?

But someone is actively trying to hit the investigation. One of Lawson’s witnesses is murdered and Lawson is told to drop the case. But he perserveres, discovering an almost forgotten pleasure in doing a good job.

Fast moving and plot driven. My only criticism? I wish the book were a little longer and the characters a little more fleshed out. Recommended.