In New Zealand, Theo Tate, a private investigator, finds himself part of an investigation involving the exhumation of the body of a potential murder victim. As the body is being exhumed, several corpses bob to the surface in a lake next to the cemetery. At first it appears that someone may have been reusing coffins, and dumping the bodies in the lake. But soon the possibility emerges that they may be victims of the Christchurch Carver, a serial killer who has been at loose for two years. Though a bit slow-moving in the middle, Cemetery Lake makes up for this with an excellent and unexpected ending that makes it worth sticking with.