A review by rzahradnik
Beyond the Truth by Bruce Robert Coffin

5.0

I picked up "Beyond the Truth" after Bruce Coffin's novel picked up the Silver Falchion for Best Procedural at Killer Nashville. I should have done so a whole lot sooner. A crackling mystery set in Portland, Maine, where Coffin himself served as detective sergeant and chief investigator of homicides and violent crimes, it examines the hard truths of an officer-involved-shooting. As an ex-cop, Coffin knows his stuff. He also knows his stuff as a writer, creating a propulsive story about the shooting of a teen by a cop and how that tragedy impacts the police, the neighborhood and several families of high school kids. The death comes down hard on series hero Detective Sergeant Byron, who is a sharp investigator, funny with the dark worldview you acquire working his beat. He feels the impact of the first death and the crimes that come after, making the character all the more rounded. This is a procedural with soul and pain and guts. Book 3 in the series, it's not to be missed!