The Paternity Puzzle, the third series and another important evolutionary step in Sawyer Keys and Royce Locke’s relationship and marriage.
This well written book is about families, from many emotional aspects and from different perspectives. It’s Sawyer and Royce embarking on their own journey through prospective fatherhood, a murder case involving a fertility doctor that hits home for them, and Royce’s strained dynamic with his father gets a thoughtful storyline that’s moving and realistic.
While this investigation is complete, the story sets up a larger narrative with a different darker story going forward.
Excellent character development, and it’s wonderful to see all my favorites here, including those podcasters from Sinister in Savannah.
Really looking forward to seeing the next in the series.
Royce Locke and Sawyer Key are back and better than ever with new mysteries and hilarious shenanigans as they tackle their greatest challenge yet: fatherhood.
A perfect holiday weekend takes a twisted turn when Royce investigates a suspicious death involving Dr. Jean Claude Matisse, a retired pioneer in fertility medicine. What first looks like an accidental overdose quickly turns into something more sinister when explosive allegations reveal hundreds of reasons why someone would want the doctor dead.
This investigation hits close to home, exposing the vulnerabilities of relying on science and a doctor’s ethics to have a family, especially when the hopeful husbands are only a positive pregnancy test away from parenthood.
The Paternity Puzzle is book one in the Felonies and Fatherhood trilogy, the third story arc for Royce Locke and Sawyer Key. ** New readers should start with the Zero Hour and Matrimony and Mayhem trilogies before reading Felonies and Fatherhood. ** The Paternity Puzzle continues Royce and Sawyer’s happily ever after as they move into the most anticipated phase of their lives. Though some storylines span the trilogy, this book does not end in a cliffhanger. Heat, humor, heart, and homicide abound. You have been warned. 18+
Shadowy Solutions is a great series and in this story James has not only a terrific murder investigation but a case that will let a newly formed couple show individual development as well as their partnered maturity show.
It also allows for other aspects of Diem’s personal life to change for a more positive outlook instead of the same negative status and brutality it’s been at for the last books.
The case that draws Diem and Tallus out of town is a call from a heart broken mother who’s convinced that her son, now on life support, was murdered. But no one will believe her.
With little to show for her belief, she’s willing to pay enormous sums of money to have the case investigated by Diem and Tallus. Money Diem desperately needs.
The investigation is a complicated process, and James uses it to show the tremendous amount of growth for Diem personally as well as the potential for a larger healthier relationship between them as a couple. Diem’s working on his trauma and anger issues, and letting Tallus into his own life.
The mystery is one where I had several people pegged as the ultimate villain, an aspect of a story I liked.
And I can’t giveaway one element I both love and wanted a deeper dive into. I honestly don’t think James could have done that given the storyline and stakes as they were, but, going forward, I can’t wait to see this side character fit in with Diem and Tallus again.
This series is shaping up to be such a stellar series and with such outstanding characters. It’s a must read.
Shadowy Solutions:
Invisible Scars – prequel
Skeletons in the Closet #1
Power of the Mind #2
Reading Between the Lines #3
A Breath of Life #4 – Sept 18,2025
Connected and preceding series in the same universe:
One headstrong boyfriend I can’t function without.
I’m doomed.
Without solving a peculiar out-of-town case, Diem’s career is over. He can’t afford to live, let alone pay bills and run the business.
The case involves a mostly dead teen and a small-town police department who are convinced the boy suffered an accident.
All hope lies on the hunch of a grieving mother.
Unable to handle such a delicate situation on his own and unwilling to go bust, Diem invites his boyfriend/almost-partner along to make sure his rough edges don’t cost them a payday.
What he didn’t expect was a high school full of secrets and suspects, a bed-and-breakfast from hell with only one m*#@er f*#@ing bed, and danger around every corner because someone doesn’t want the truth to be unveiled.
Diem can handle threats. Risking life and limb to get answers is part of the game. But as the mystery unfolds, he realizes there is one thing not worth jeopardizing for a case: Tallus.
I’m not sure if Shadowy Solutions won’t surpass Valor and Doyle as the series I come to adore the most. Just based on the three novels that James has given us, the characters of Shadowy Solutions have me in their thrall totally and anxiously waiting for more.
It’s been 3 months since the last case, time frame, 10 months since they met during the events that occurred previously. Diem Krause, ex cop, overburdened PI, scarred , damaged man that he is, can’t get
the intriguing Tallus Domingo, PD records clerk, out of his head.
Tallus, with his own fascination with this huge, quiet dangerous man, will let nothing stop himself from pursuing a relationship with Diem, no matter what the obstacles he throws up between them.
James has built and continues to construct two incredibly powerful, complicated men who are almost magnetically connected to each other but who are also fighting one’s inner demons that’s keeping them apart. It’s a compelling, moving dynamic that’s being developed and one that connects the reader instantly to these men.
With the relationship as a foundation and as a way to propel the story forward, James creates an interesting mystery that’s as layered as the characters and relationships found here. It starts with Memphis, old friend of Tallus’, who decides to have his fortune told and swings into a mysterious investigation that sees a crossover with Valor and Doyle, bringing suspense and excitement.
It’s a great story, excellent character development, exciting scenes, and just such emotional moments that make this a series to watch and put on your must read list.
Highly recommend!
Shadowy Solutions:
Invisible Scars – prequel
Skeletons in the Closet #1
Power of the Mind #2
Connected and preceding series in the same universe:
It’s not a real case, he’s not my boyfriend, and we aren’t partners.
Three lies I told myself for survival.
After ten months of shamefully stalking and showing up randomly on Tallus’s doorstep at midnight (for reasons), the sinfully hot records clerk decided he’d had enough of my games.
In fact, he went out of his way to bring me the most ridiculous case (it was not a case) on the planet as an excuse to push me over the line (he wanted a date). Our arrangement (hooking up) didn’t suit him any longer.
Could I say no? Of course not (this was Tallus).
Five days, I told him. Five days to prove his silly theory, then we were done.
Little did I know, Tallus had a deadline of his own.
Investigating a mind-controlling-murdering psychic was hard enough (because it was not a thing), but resisting Tallus’s charm was the real challenge.
Stoned to Death is book 8 and I’ve already bought two more, but based on this, and the reviews I just read yesterday for book 22 , released oddly enough in 2022, I think I can say I’m done with this series and probably Meg Perry.
And that’s a shame because I’ve really enjoyed the mystery aspects of the series, the dynamics between the Brodie family, and getting to see the interesting inactions of the various librarians and libraries that they work for. That had been where Meg Perry, herself a librarian, has excelled.
Perry’s research on different subjects and depth of knowledge has been a huge key part in making each plot so compelling and wanting me to go forward with the rest of the series.
However, for me, the larger issues are ones that have always come from the relationship between librarian Jamie Brodie and ex cop, now professor of psychology, Pete Ferguson. Jamie himself is a fine character, with some interesting emotional baggage and ex’s in his background. His brother is a detective, he’s close to his father, it’s a wonderful, close knit family with strong bonds.
It’s Pete who’s the issue and his relationship with Jamie. And honestly the strange way in which this author has approached their romance (or strong lack of), the flags it waves for a toxic relationship despite that these books are simply full of therapy and a shared therapist who is determined for Jamie to stick by Pete. Plus there’s just zero sense of connection, or chemistry, or love between them. For books and books and books.
We are told that Jamie has feelings. And in what would be very similar to what is being categorized as “love bombing” now Pete repeatedly tells Jamie he loves him, pressuring him on various aspects of their lives when Pete feels threatened including, pressing him to get married. All while not wanting to have sexual relations with him.
There’s a very good reason for this. It’s due to his traumatic experiences with a priest in his childhood. And he’s been in therapy since then. Pete is a character you could empathize with, if he wasn’t in a relationship with Jamie. Because here he’s a toxic person. It’s everything his way , he uses fear to keep Jamie in the relationship. Pressure, money, he moved a homeless Jamie immediately into his house after Jamie and his brother has lost theirs to arson. It’s flag and more. But the author is writing about him as though he’s not a problem.
I had thought maybe it was due to the fact that this was published in 2015 and perspectives about relationships dynamics had changed since then. But reviews in 2022 show that no, the dynamics between them are still very much the same. So the writer has kept them there in their roles for 23 books. Unfortunately.
Stoned to Death has the potential to change so much here. And it comes up lacking. This sees Jamie and Pete at a critical moment again because of their lack of a sexual relationship. Or an uneven one. Jamie has given up trying for one that satisfies him and it’s showing in his face and physical condition. And Peter hasn’t noticed. They’ve brought it up to their therapist who has, again, told Jamie to proceed with their plan.
This here has a ton of flaws. From every angle. The plot and author’s intent.
The storyline is one of an archaeological mystery involving one of Pete’s Scottish relatives. It’s got bog bodies, upper crust ladies with shovels, homophobic relatives, intrigue amongst old archaeological sites, and a lot of personal struggles between Pete and Jamie. That only goes nowhere when it could have served to launch a change into the status quo.
While I’m listing issues, here’s another example:
“No. There are even popular reality shows about archaeology on British TV because there’s so much history to dig up. We don’t have that.”
That’s a quote that just serves how dated the story is, that two white American highly educated men, one a librarian and the other a professor, would utter these Anglo-Saxon phrases or perspectives, especially Jamie , a librarian who has been such a great proponent for different cultures and races in the stories. That’s indigenous culture erasure and it would be very hard to imagine that statement being made today. But I still find it hard to believe that Perry, as a librarian, had it as a viable thought from her main character even in 2015. That’s very disappointing.
And that’s primarily how I view the whole story. Disappointing. From every angle. There’s a good couple of elements, such as the old memoirs interspersed with the current events that lets us see into the past vividly. But , again the potential is lost as the mystery is not really explored thoroughly.
No recommendations. I have two books I bought to complete and then my journey here is complete. Shame.
In 1915, farmer and amateur archaeologist Robert Thomson disappeared from Scotland’s Orkney Islands with a priceless Stone Age artifact. A century later, his great-great-grandson, Pete Ferguson, is coming to Scotland with boyfriend Jamie Brodie to meet his distant cousins and investigate Robert’s disappearance. But the homophobia of the Thomson patriarch threatens to derail their quest – and a chance meeting in a pub in Oxford brings Pete and Jamie’s relationship to a turning point.
• Publisher: (February 4, 2015)
• Publication date: February 4, 2015
• Language: English
• Print length: 159 pages
The Jamie Brodie Mysteries – 23 books
✓ Cited to Death
✓ Hoarded to Death
✓ Burdened to Death
✓ Researched to Death
✓ Encountered to Death
✓ Psyched to Death
✓ Stacked to Death
✓ Stoned to Death
◦ Talked to Death
◦ Avenged to Death
◦ Played to Death
◦ Filmed to Death
◦ Trapped to Death
◦ Promoted to Death
◦ Published to Death
◦ Cloistered to Death
◦ Haunted to Death
◦ Obsessed to Death
◦ Deserted to Death
◦ Drugged to Death
◦ Resigned to Death
◦ Snowed to Death
◦ Enchanted to Death
Dirty Laundry: The Jamie Brodie Short Stories (Jamie Brodie Mysteries)
In Hoarded to Death, author Meg Perry’s characters get to be seen fully realized in every aspect of their lives, from their messy personal relationships to those careers in which each is a highly successful and respected professional. Then all will have both segments, personal and professional, fiercely intertwined by a ex spouse, a reality cable show, and finally, a police murder investigation .
I really enjoyed that first case and my introduction to all the characters but Hoarded to Death really has Perry adding some interesting and moving aspects to the relationships being forged between various characters. Especially between Jamie Brodie and Pete, his brother’s former partner and best friend. Jamie is the man he dated, broke up with, and is now living with after the events of the last book. It’s not going as smoothly as everyone thinks.
Those rushed, tumultuous decisions are causing him to question how quickly he’s moved into this situation he now finds himself in, house wise and perhaps with the relationship too
Perry has more as far as hidden secrets (Pete’s) and troubling emotional baggage that will realistically impact this couple’s dynamic. It doesn’t resolve itself within the story, and given the severity of the nature of the issues, it shouldn’t . The raw and real problems that are showing up in Jamie and Pete’s relationship makes this a great story on its own. Especially as Jamie’s brother, Kevin, and girlfriend are a strong support for both, as well as Jamie’s father. The connections run deep here.
The fabulous mystery which starts out as an emotional request for support from someone from Jamie’s brother’s past but moves forward into an intriguing investigation that needs to be explored through the storyline. And we get to know more about the enigma that is Clinton.
There’s actually so much more to this book than I had expected from reading the first novel . The characters are more complex, their relationships are compelling and without any quick resolutions to issues. And the mysteries are thrilling but without the gore but with the exciting moments one wants in a mystery.
Now I’m highly anticipating book 3. And recommending Hoarded to Death: A Jamie Brodie Mystery (Jamie Brodie Mysteries Book 2) by Meg Perry.
The Jamie Brodie Mysteries – 23 books
✓ Cited to Death
✓ Hoarded to Death
◦ Burdened to Death
◦ Researched to Death
◦ Encountered to Death
◦ Psyched to Death
◦ Stacked to Death
◦ Stoned to Death
◦ Talked to Death
◦ Avenged to Death
◦ Played to Death
◦ Filmed to Death
◦ Trapped to Death
◦ Promoted to Death
◦ Published to Death
◦ Cloistered to Death
◦ Haunted to Death
◦ Obsessed to Death
◦ Deserted to Death
◦ Drugged to Death
◦ Resigned to Death
◦ Snowed to Death
◦ Enchanted to Death
Dirty Laundry: The Jamie Brodie Short Stories (Jamie Brodie Mysteries)
When Jamie Brodie agrees to help his ex-sister-in-law Jennifer clean her hoarded apartment, the last thing he expects to find in the hoard is a dead body – and what the dead man was clutching in his hand might be the answer to a thousand-year-old mystery. As Jamie and the police investigate, they uncover a hoard of secrets – but the biggest secret of all belongs to Jamie’s boyfriend, Pete. Suddenly Jamie is searching for the answers to three questions: who killed the man in Jennifer’s apartment? Is the paper in his hand real? And can Jamie’s relationship with Pete survive?
I’m utterly charmed by the new murder mystery I just finished. A story along the lines of a cozy mystery with a touch of the mysterious or perhaps mystical, I also found a new wonderful author in Mr Mustachio is Falsely Accused (Mr. Mustachio Murders Book 1) by Dawn McKinnon.
Honestly, it was that cover! Then the description. But first that remarkable cover with the auburn Persian cat with the white mustache looking so smug and intelligent!
Then once I got into it, I was hooked. The prologue belongs to Mr Mustachio’s thoughts as he wanders through his nightly routine of checking in on his renters and those that have come to visit Chez Celine, his mansion that now houses artists and their shops. Turns out the wealthy woman who owned the huge house left everything to him, land, house, and lots of money.
McKinnon does a fascinating job of keeping Mr Mustachio’s thoughts less anthropomorphic, more in the realm of what a cat, an extraordinary one however, might think.
The second and primary POV belongs to ex police officer, Sam Jones, who’s just rented rooms in Chez Celine hoping to start his next career as a mystery writer and part time detective.
Once interviewed, inside Chez Celine and accepted as one of this strange group, the mysteries start piling up on Sam immediately. One happens to be in the form of Algernon, the strangely naive, mysterious, and very lovely man of indeterminate age that’s Mr Mustachio’s guardian. That’s just the beginning.
McKinnon’s narrative weaves a tale of multiple mysteries, several murders, a household of artists of different ages and backgrounds, some very strange and mysterious, the most interesting and unusual are those of Algernon and the cat, Mr Mustachio. Sam Jones is pretty special as the not so hard boiled detective narrator who’s falling for Algernon, the cat and Chez Celine.
I’m so thrilled to have found this new author and series. I immediately have two more books to discover, one that was recently published. Be still my heart.
If you’re a lover of murder mysteries, slow heat romance, cozy mysteries, mysterious characters, or even some strange elements or animals as main characters, well, this book and series has all of the above. And done right.
What happens when a hard-boiled detective finds himself in a cozy mystery?
Sam Jones has left the force. Going forward, the only mysteries he’ll solve will be fictional ones as he pursues his dream of becoming an author. But he’s barely moved into Chez Celine, a former mansion repurposed as an artist collective, before two unfortunate discoveries demand his attention. One is the dead body of his new apartment’s previous occupant, found stuffed in a trunk. The other is an award-winning vase, found shattered on a storeroom floor.
The list of murder suspects is endless. Everyone hated Amelie. But when it comes to the broken vase, the perpetrator seems obvious. It must be Sam’s unlikely landlord—an unusually intelligent cat named Mr. Mustachio.
Sam has never made friends easily, but as he gets to know Mr. Mustachio’s human representative, Algernon, his feelings move beyond friendship. But Algernon seems to know more than an innocent man should. To find the true culprit, and perhaps true love, Sam must prove that both Algernon and Mr. Mustachio have been falsely accused.
Mr. Mustachio is Falsely Accused is book 1 in the Mr. Mustachio Murders.
I have been waiting for Chief Mendoza’s story since Walker started her teasers and hints throughout all the rest of the Savannah series about Mendoza’s attraction to his longtime friend, Sheriff Abraham Beecham.
Chief Mendoza’s been a rock solid presence at the Savannah PD , a favored , strong personality that’s as much a part of the family and lives of all the main characters we love . He is a central figure in the foundation of this ongoing series universe.
No surprise that Beecham started to work his way up and into the same role , via his relationship with Mendoza and that of Sgt. Royce Locke (of the partnership in every way of Locke and Key).
Just Say When finally pulls back the curtains on their long relationship, their friendship, and the passion for each other that’s finally gone from hidden to unrestrained.
I love that Mendoza’s back history includes a great mixed modern family dynamics. His combined family includes his teenage son, Alex, who he shares with his ex. In a totally appreciated departure from the norm in other stories, his ex wife , a well rounded character, is still very much a friend. Also in law enforcement, she’s strong, great at her job , smart and loving, has a terrific marriage with her husband. Their family includes Mendoza and Uncle Abe Beecham, who’s known everyone for years.
This quartet of personalities and relationships drives the multiple storylines forward with a narrative heft that includes compelling acceptance of sexuality, bigotry within a family framework, and a healthy modern mixed family culture.
Walker’s characters flow through a mystery and dramatic setup that’s got its own twists to satisfy any reader.
I love her Savannah universe and all the characters and stories that have come out of it. Just Say When is simply one more in that rich line of storytelling that you will never tire of and always be sorry to leave.
I’m highly recommending it and all the books around it.
Someone wants Police Chief Emilio Mendoza dead. And if his unknown assailant doesn’t kill him, pining for Sheriff Abraham Beecham just might.
Abe and Lio’s thirty-year journey has taken them from heated rivals to best friends with countless labels and pit stops along the way. Romance is the only avenue left unexplored but not from lack of love or desire.
Abe pushes people away before they can get too close, and Lio doesn’t engage in situations he can’t control. They’ve reached an impasse, and neither are willing to risk their friendship until fate intervenes, forcing them to reassess their priorities.
But when an unhinged enemy targets Lio, will their gamble be too little too late, or will their love truly conquer all?
Just Say When is a standalone romantic suspense novel within the author’s Savannah universe. This book contains mature content and is attended for adults.
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Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 