Shallow Grave

Jackson Donne #4.7

by Alex Segura, Dave White

Five years ago, Gilbert "GG" Garcia - bassist for beloved New Brunswick, NJ indie band Magna Carta - went off the grid. At the request of GG's sister, P.i. Jackson Donne made some inquiries but hit a wall. Aside from allegations of mob involvement and illegal betting, the leads had dried up and GG was in the wind. Soon enough, the case went cold and Donne moved on. Five years later, Miami P.I. Pete Fernandez gets a frantic call from an old friend - a police detective stationed in his old stomping grounds of New Jersey - asking for a favor he can't discuss over the phone. Bruised and battered from a near-fatal run-in with a lethal serial killer, Pete welcomes the brief change of scenery. Or escape. Pete discovers the GG case has frozen solid, with only one flicker of hope for solving talking to the first detective who tried to find the local-boy-gone-missing. But there's one Jackson Donne is in prison for murder. Pulled into an uneasy alliance with the older, jaded detective, Pete must pick up the pieces of Donne's work to learn the missing bassist's final fate, while also avoiding an unexpected mob turf war and locals who prefer the past stay buried. SHALLOW GRAVE pairs two of the best crime writers working today, Dave White and Alex Segura, pairing up their acclaimed characters in an unforgettable tale of lost hopes, dangerous alliances and sinister betrayals.

85 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 16, 2017

About the author

Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity, which The New York Times called “wittily original” and named an Editor’s Choice. NPR described the novel as “masterful” and The L.A. Times called it “a magnetic read.”

Secret Identity received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and Booklist, was listed as one of the Best Mysteries of the Year by NPR, Kirkus, Booklist, LitReactor, Gizmodo, BOLO Books, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, was nominated for the Anthony Award for Best Hardcover, the Lefty and Barry Awards for Best Novel, the Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, and won the LA Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category.

His upcoming work includes the YA superhero adventure Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow, the follow-up to Secret Identity, Alter Ego, and the sci-fi/espionage thriller, Dark Space (with Rob Hart). Alex is also the author of Star Wars Poe Dameron: Free Fall, the Anthony Award-nominated Pete Fernandez Miami Mystery series, and a number of comic books – including The Mysterious Micro-Face (in partnership with NPR), The Black Ghost, The Archies, The Dusk, The Awakened, Mara Llave – Keeper of Time, Blood Oath, stories featuring Marvel heroes the Avengers, Sunspot, White Tiger, Spider-Man and DC’s Superman, Sinestro, and The Question, to name a few.

His short story, “90 Miles” was included in The Best American Mystery and Suspense Stories for 2021 and won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story. Another short story,“Red Zone,” won the 2020 Anthony Award for Best Short Story.

Alex is also the co-creator of the Lethal Lit podcast, named one of the best fiction podcasts of 2018 by The New York Times.

A Miami native, he lives in New York with his wife and children.

Reviews

[Linda Strong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two authors have combined their respective characters from previous books into one short story.

Pete Fernandez is a Private Investigator from Miami. Summoned by an old friend in law enforcement, he is asked to tryto locate Gilbert Garcia, a man who went missing 5 years previously. Feared dead, Garcia's sister wants him back dead or alive and she's not willing to stop looking.

Pete investigates without any luck and decides he needs to start from the very beginning. The only problem is that the original PI, Jackson Donne, is in prison on a murder charge.

Lots of action is packed into this very short story -- 85 pages. The reader gets treated to what happens to ex-cops in prison, a man who feels it is safer in prison ... no one else gets hurt. He's older, he's tired, and he sees Pete as a younger version of himself.

Even though Pete is still recovering from a previous case dealing with a serial killer, he's gung-ho to find his man... even though it leads him to people in the mafia ...and people who want the past to stay buried.

found while browsing Amazon. I may try a full length book by each of the authors to get a better handle on the characters and where they came from to get where they are.

[Scott Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second time that Alex Segura and his creation, Pete Fernandez, have teamed up with another author and character to give us a short adventure. Pete is summoned back to Jersey by an old friend to investigate the disappearance of musician Gilbert "GG" Garcia. Jackson Donne (White's character) previously investigated the same disappearance five years earlier, but is now in prison for murder and can only provide limited assistance.

The mystery at the heart of the story really takes a back seat for me as we have two compelling characters involved. Pete goes to Jersey looking to escape the events of the last novel (Down the Darkest Street), but we see him grow as a P.I. in this one with a new determinancy and unwillingness to back down. It sets up well for the next Fernandez novel.

As with Bad Beat and Rob Hart, I was unfamiliar with Dave White when I came into the book and left knowing I would have to delve into his books at some time in the future. Jackson Donne is knowingly serving time in prison for a murder he didn't commit. To his mind he is doing it to protect people and I'm more than intrigued to know why and how he got here.

As noted in a previous comment, I find Segura to be a great mix of Lawrence Block and George Pelecanos and I'll continue to read Fernandez books or any other crime fiction he writes long into the future. White joins my megalodon sized list of authors I need to read and I'll look to do so soon.

Note - The name GG associated with music just made me think of G.G. Allin. That's one for you kids to Google. :D

[Erica Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been into classic noir lately, and it doesn't get darker than this crossover. The interactions between the older and younger PIs—two sides of the same jaded coin—were fun.

[Teena in Toronto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Five years ago, New Jersey P.I. Jackson was investigating the disappearance of Gilbert "GG" Garcia, the bassist for a local indie band, and got nowhere. Five years later, GG's sister has never given up hope of finding her brother. She works with a police officer's wife and the police officer asks his friend and Miami P.I., Pete to reopen the case. Jackson is now in prison so Pete is basically on his own putting together the pieces of the cold case.

This is a novella involving Pete of the Pete Fernandez Mystery series by Alex Segura and Jackson of the Jackson Donne series by Dave White. I've read the first two in the Pete Fernandez series recently so knew Pete's backstory but wasn't familiar with Jackson's. It don't know if it was the combination of two writers' styles or the story itself but I found it a bit confusing and not very interesting. Maybe it would have helped if I'd read the Jackson Donne series books to catch up (I'm interested enough to check the first one in the series out). As a head's up, there is violence and swearing.

My blog review post: http://www.teenaintoronto.com/2025/04...

[Carolyn Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 2.5 edition lends some insight into Pete's preparedness to become a real PI.