Review of After Anna by Theda Black

Rating: 2.5 stars

Will St. James and Tyler Neville are best friends and partners on the police force. And for Tyler, there’s more–he’s got feelings for Will, feelings he’s kept locked away. When Will’s girlfriend dies, Tyler supports him in every way he can, even when Will’s increasingly self-destructive behavior endangers them both on the job. And as Will withdraws further, a desperate Tyler can’t keep his feelings hidden anymore. But Will doesn’t turn his back on him. In fact, Will might have some feelings of his own he’s kept hidden. The trouble is, Tyler’s kept more than one secret. He knows something about Anna’s death–something that could end their relationship for good.

This story poses quite a few problems for a reviewer who would like to find something positive to say. While the author shows flashes of potential as far as characters and plot structure are concerned, the choppy writing style, constantly changing pov, and lack of believable character backstory wash away the high points from the very beginning. I liked the basic structure of the story. It begins with the death of Will’s girl friend from a drug overdose, and then each chapter moves the story forward so many days, i.e., Chapter 3, 4 days later. Not a bad idea but each time frame is a different amount of days, so that it is Will at 8 days of recovering or to 14 days later, not that much of a difference to divide it up into chapters. Good idea poor execution. I also had trouble with the dialog, most of the time I had to double check to see which character was speaking which line. Chopping delivery combined with poor identification made following any scene tedious. The story loses it’s momentum when the reader has to struggle with poorly framed dialog and story structure.

Will is mourning the loss of his girl friend but gosh darn it if he doesn’t keep kissing his partner at the drop of a hat. His love for his girlfriend never seems the least bit based in reality and neither does his newly found lust for his partner. He gets drunk, runs off, comes back, exhibiting all the self control of a 12 year old, with my apologies to 12 year olds everywhere. Will St. James is an insubstantial outline of a main character. Tyler Neville has a little more depth to him, but that is not saying much.

My biggest problem is that both characters are detectives and partners on the police force. They are supposed to be seasoned officers yet time and again they rush into knowingly dangerous situations without backup, bust down doors into parties without identifying themselves, past drug-laden tables to beat down a target. One partner is out of control due to his grief. One covers for him. Still no matter the situation both have an absolute lack of knowledge of police procedures between them. Reading this is like watching an old Starskey and Hutch episode with Starsky and Hutch demonstrating superior police procedure than the two detectives within this story.

Finally, one of the most heatedly argued subject these days is the inclusion of m/f sexual content within the m/m genre. So be warned. This story contains some explicit m/f sexual scenes that most readers of m/m fiction will find unnecessary and unwanted. For me it was just another indication of how far off track the author went with her story. Call this a tale of promise derailed.

Cover: So so. Seems typical of self published authors with little graphic or design experience. I mean really do either of these twinks look like seasoned police officers to you?

Available as a free read at Amazon.

Review of Face Value, Sanctuary #3 by RJ Scott

Rating: 4.5 stars

As the Bullen Family conspiracy continues to unfold, Beckett Jamieson, aka Robert Bullen, is recovering in a Sanctuary safehouse from the beating his father and uncle gave him. Dale McIntyre, a Sanctuary Agent, along with Joseph Kinnon (The Only Easy Day, #2)rescue him, kill his Uncle and arrest his father. When Beckett awakens, he’s blind and alone with Kayden Summers in a house in the middle of the woods. Dale McIntyre, his only safety line and contact, is gone, off on another assignment. Kayden Summers is both a Doctor and field agent for Sanctuary. But when everything Beckett has known has turned out to be false, can he trust someone he can’t see to keep him safe?

In Face Value, RJ Scott continues to unravel the story of the powerful Bullen family while introducing us to new Sanctuary agents and people involved in the Bullen family past. Beckett Jamieson turned 21 and immediately found out that his life has been one subterfuge after another. Isla and Derek Jamieson were not his biological parents, and his real name is Robert Edward Bullen, scion of the powerful and wealthy Bullen clan. Austin Mitchell, lawyer and friend of his biological mother, Emma, hands him a letter and a box with his initials on it that change his life forever. Soon he is embroiled with the FBI, murder, the Bullens and of course, Sanctuary.

I love a good mystery and here is one that has stretched out over three books and looks to continue on as there is no resolution in sight at the end of Face Value. Once again, the author has done an incredible job of bringing us a variety of interesting characters, from endearing to malignant, in a mystery that deepens with each book. Beckett Jamieson is that perfect combination of innocence and determination. Just 21 when everything he knows is upended, his frustration, fear, and bravery endear the reader immediately starting with the first chapter. Here his uncle and father find him snooping around his mother’s old room, looking for incriminating evidence against them for the DA. Your heart pounds along with his as he realizes he’s been discovered and they are not buying his story. And then the beating starts, and I felt sickened until just as he passes out he hears the sounds of a rescue in progress.

When Beck wakes up, he’s been transported to a safe house, he’s temporarily blind due to his beatings, and his only companion is Dr. Hayden Summers. So realistic is the scene where Beck slowly returns to consciousness you are right there feeling his confusion, and then mounting apprehension when he can’t open his eyes which turns to terror upon the realization he can’t see. He’s helpless and can only barely hold on as a calm voice tells him the blindness is temporary, and to trust him. The voice of course belongs to another multilayered character, Hayden Summers. He’s just turned 26 but mentally and emotionally far older due to his back story. Hayden was raised in a compound by a loving but unstable father (think Waco, TX without the religious overtones). When the compound is raided, his father dies, and Hayden is taken by the founder of Sanctuary and raised with his son. A complicated background makes for a brilliant and complicated young man. As Hayden cares for his young patient, he is both impatient to be away in the field and away from Beckett to whom he is drawn. He is a brilliant Doctor, martial arts expert, gay and sarcastic son of a bitch outside of his doctor persona who shies away from emotional attachments. It’s a delicate dance of trust and attraction between two young gay men under stressful and potentially deadly conditions. And RJ Scott has done a great job of making their waltz towards a relationship remain grounded in real life expectations while allowing the possibilities of romance to grow. The characters here never lose sight of their goals, there is no instant love, just the hope of more if they can just keep Beck alive. And the twists and turns the plot takes will take your breath away and make your heart stop just when you think they are safe.

As I got to the end of Face Value, I immediately wanted to reach for the next book. And then the one after that. I want to know more, I want more of Beck and Hayden (they are that interesting and they deserve it). I want to see the Bullen family pulled down and justice served. Of course, I also want more Dale and Joseph (The Only Easy Day), as well as Nik and Morgan from Guarding Morgan. Book by book, RJ Scott is building my Sanctuary addiction and now I can’t wait for the next one. The next couple. And perhaps a glimpse of those we have already met and loved. Mission accomplished, RJ Scott, a job well done.

Cover: Reese Dante is the cover artist. Love this cover. The model is the perfect Beck. Great cover design for a wonderful story. Grade A.

Review of One Man’s Treasure, Bellingham Mysteries #4 by Nicole Kimberling

Rating: 4.25

Peter Fontaine, intrepid reporter for The Bellinghamster, and his long suffering artist partner Nick Olson are back again in another mystery set in the City of Subdued Excitement, Bellingham, Washington. Along for the ride are their many quixotic friends and outlandish acquaintances we have gotten to know over the last three mysteries . This time around, Peter and partner nee boyfriend Nick have been strongarmed by Peter’s BFF Evangeline Conklin, sometime found object artist, into helping out at her Go Go Gyoza stall at The Farmers Market on Earth Day. Normally her stoner boyfriend, Tommy, would be helping out but the Farmers Market Association talked Tommy into wearing the Spunky the Squirrel costume and participating in the ecoterrorist play put on to benefit the Whatcom Emergency Farm Fund, Ergo, Nick and Peter’s assistance is required.

As Peter manages the front of the booth, Nick and Evangeline are busy producing her gourmet gyozas (with fillings both traditional and experimental) to the rain soaked and quickly dwindling crowd. Roger Hager, famous ceramics artist and old friend of Nick’s, had ambled over from his stall across from theirs earlier in the morning to sample the gyozas and pass the time with Nick. In fact he had pretty much abandoned his booth and taken up permanent residence next to Nick as they chatted the morning away. But then Roger starts coughing and doubles over in pain. Peter calls for an EMT and ambulance who whisk Roger away to the hospital too late to save him.

A casual inquiry by Peter as to the cause of death boosts his always present curiosity into the determined stage of inquisitiveness that Nick has come to know and dread. Roger has been poisoned and all roads lead to the Green Goddess farms. Peter’s previous investigations have always put him and others into life-threatening situations and Nick expects it to happen again. They really need to have a little talk about Peter and his impulses, that is if the murderer doesn’t get them first.

With One Man’s Treasure, Nicole Kimberling once again embroils us into that damp, politically correct world of Peter and Nick in Whatcom County, Washington. With Peter as her snarky Diogenes, Nicole Kimberling gently pokes fun at the new age/old hippie/green lifestyle that taken root in Washington state and the northwest coast. Whether it is the Spinnin Wimmen comprised of women named Luna and Cinderella, to Roger’s wake where pottery students and mourners are asked to turn Roger’s ashes into ceramic pots, Nicole Kimberling gets the flavor of the town and its citizens just right. Her descriptions and characterizations are perfectly spot on, delighting us with new fully realized characters and tidbits of esoteric information about ceramic glazes to toxins derived from the Zigadenus species known as death camus. The author’s fondness for the area and its inhabitants never interferes with the clarity with which she sees them all.

I have followed Peter and Nick’s relationship from the very beginning. They met during a murder mystery in Primal Red, our first introduction to Bellingham, Washington, and its quirky denizens. It was a rough start for both of them, but still they had managed a date and more by the end. Baby, It’s Cold Outside finds Peter and Nick involved in a monogamous relationship and we start learning more about Peter, his family, and Kjell,the plein air artist that is Nick’s cousin. Both men are dealing with their emotions, Peter is turning 30 amidst a midlife crisis, and decisions need to be made about their deepening relationship. By the time we get to Black Cat Ink, Bellingham Mysteries #3, Peter and Nick are living together in The Castle and still working on their relationship issues and Peter’s impulses while tracking down a stolen statue in time for Halloween.

In each book, Peter and Nick’s relationship progresses realistically, with its hitches and misfires. Nick Olson’s nordic stoicism contrasts beautifully with Peter’s emotionally inquisitive outlook but not always in a manner conducive to maintaining the relationship. At the end of Black Cat Ink, the Fontaine/Olson household had acquired a black kitten, and Peter some maturity in acknowledging that his methods often harmed more than helped his relationship with Nick. And Nick had obtained a promise of sorts that Peter would think before he rushed into action because they both wanted a long future together.

And here we come to my one and only quibble with this installment in the Bellingham Mysteries and partnership of Fontaine/Olson. Yes, yes, I know some will say the murderer was easy to spot. While that may be true, it is always the how and the why and not the who that I enjoy about the Bellingham Mysteries. But let’s get back to the relationship at hand. The two have been making strides in settling down, Peter’s over his insecurity at remaining at The Hamster as his local newspaper is fondly called, and Nick becoming more comfortable at pdas. When a murder happens (my expectations always run high at methods the murderer will use), Peter’s inherent nosiness is on alert. No one, including Nick and this reader, expects that to ever change. As Peter snoops around their community, with Nick’s assistance in this case, I start thinking “aha, Peter is not going this alone as promised. Good one.” But alas, that is not to be. Even as Nick proposes and they enter into a “kinda married domestic partnership”, Peter’s old habits rise up at the end, his promise to Nick forgotten as he confronts the murderer in a spectacularly stupid fashion. I was so amazed at both his stupidity and the fact that he put someone close to him in harms way. I was still irritated at the character hours later. Oh yes, I know Nick’s resigned to Peter’s methods, Peter knows he’s screwed up again(but doesn’t really apologize) and I just wanted to throttle him. Not the way I wanted to end this book. Or my relationship with Peter, Nick, and the Bellingham tatterdemalions.

So I am hoping for a 5th book in this series and for Peter to gain some long overdue maturity. Nick deserves better. As does their readers. This reader continues to be very fond of the both of them.

Here are the books in order:

Primal Red, Bellingham Mysteries #1

Baby, It’s Cold Outside, Bellingham Mysteries #2

Black Cat Ink, Bellingham Mysteries, #3

One Man’s Treasure, Bellingham Mysteries, #4

All available at Loose – id, Amazon, and ARe.

Cover: I have loved all the covers of this series. All are by April Martinez. Just perfection in tone, graphics and font. Well done.