A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby

3.5

‘I handle the bodies.’ 

Nathan Waymaker currently lives and works at his cousin Walt’s funeral home in a small town in America’s south. Nathan is an ex-marine, and previously worked as a sheriff’s deputy. He’s angry about the way the sheriff’s office handled the deaths of his parents, and that anger simmers close to the surface. 

When a beloved local minister is found dead, and the sheriff’s office doesn’t seem to be investigating the suspicious death thoroughly, two of his parishioners ask Nathan to make sure the case is not ignored. Nathan agrees. He could use the money he is being offered, and he’s not averse to reminding the sheriff’s office of their responsibilities. 

And that’s when almost everything gets turned upside down. It seems that the beloved local minister has a history, one that involves several corrupt police officers, and others. The minister’s daughter, now a successful adult movie star, returns home for the funeral. She and Nathan become involved, at least temporarily, and she asks him to retrieve something for her from her father’s house. Meanwhile, a local crime lord wants to speak with Nathan, and brawling leads to Nathan having to move out of his cousin’s funeral home. 

This was Mr Cosby’s first novel, and it contains all of the ingredients (albeit less polished) which make his later novels such a fine addition to southern noir. 

’That’s the tragedy of this thing we call life, isn’t it? Either none of our prayers are heard or all of them are. Even the darkest ones.’ 

Jennifer Cameron-Smith