Tag: m/m mystery romance

A MelanieM Review: Fair Play (All’s Fair #2) by Josh Lanyon

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Fair Play coverRoland Mills, father of ex-FBI agent Elliot Mills, has always been an activist, extremely liberal in his views and actions. Fifty years ago, Roland belonged to a violent protest group and now, when Roland is about to publish his memoirs, someone is willing to kill to prevent him from doing so.

It took the death of his mother, and Elliot Mills’s own injury to bring father and son back together.   Now the threats against his father’s life has Elliot reaching out to those in his father’s past, an action that  brings him up against the FBI and his lover, FBI Agent Tucker Lance.

Now living together, Tucker and Elliot are still trying to find their way to a solid relationship and these threats against Roland threaten that solidity once again. Tucker has never agreed with radical Roland on much, but when it comes to wanting Elliot to stay out of the mess Roland has gotten into, he and Roland agree for once that Elliot needs to let it alone.  As the danger closes in, it threatens not just Roland’s life, but that of Elliot’s and their relationship as well.

The first book in this series, Fair Game, remains a favorite read of mine.  I loved the complicated characters, the angst filled  past, and the tumultuous circumstances that brought such strong, intelligent men together.  Adding to that, Josh Lanyon completed his cast of characters by giving Elliot a compelling family history with a 60’s activist father, and beloved deceased mother and a host of wild and chaotic personalities that swirled around his father and the university they both teach at.  And then Lanyon piled on some horrific murders to boot!

At the conclusion of Fair Game, Tucker and Elliot agreed to give their relationship another try and this story, Fair Play, picks up with Tucker already living in Elliot’s house on the island.  Their relationship is passionate and committed, yet both men are still obviously adjusting to all new aspects of their cohabitation.  I have always loved this author’s ability to create such layered, fascinating characters and then bring them to life through sharp, thoughtful dialog and emotional interplay.  We feel Elliot’s and Tucker’s hesitations, those halting advances towards openness and vulnerability that is so hard for them both, in scene after scene.  It makes their journey back to each other feel real and sometimes painfully slow.  That makes it extremely gratifiying when they can move past these realistic moments in their relationship to something deeper.   And all the while,  they are trying to deal with Roland’s intractability, fear, and an unknown killer on the loose.

The father/son dynamics between Roland and Elliot that Lanyon has brought into this series is as compelling as the one between Tucker and Elliot, and its not always a given that the relationship will survive the actions of each other, as diametrically opposed as they often are.  I loved the mystery that goes along with the attempts on Roland’s life, it leads into the past and the idea that all actions have reverberations that will continue into the present and beyond.    We also see the potential for the villain in the first story to make a reappearance soon.  That alone gave me the shivers.

In Fair Play, we are there as Tucker and Elliot solve complicated mysteries and move deeper into their relationship. The suspense is gripping, and the emotional involvement never lets up.  We are engrossed in the hunt for the would-be assassin while also heavily invested in Tucker and Elliot’s sometimes shaky partnership and well being. Fair Play is immensely satisfying,  totally entertaining, and a wonderful read.   I highly recommend not only this book but the first in the series as well.   Start with Fair Game to see what brings Elliot and Tucker back together and then continue on to Fair Play.  What a ride awaits you in the All’s Fair series from Josh Lanyon.

 

Cover Artist is a great job in overall tone and concept.

Sales Links:  Carina Press      All Romance (ARe)        Amazon   Buy it Here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 250 pages
Published November 10th 2014 by Carina Press
ASINB00KV5Z7M0
series All’s Fair #2

All’s Fair Series:

Fair Game
Fair Play (All’s Fair #2)

Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review:The Merchant of Death (Playing the Fool #2) by Lisa Henry & J.A. Rock

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

The merchant of Death coverA continuation of the story started in “Two Gentlemen from Altona”, this story is even better. There’s more humor, more angst, more drama, more complexity in the connections between Henry and Mac and most importantly, more romance.

The story opens with Henry reuniting with his twin sister, Viola, a young woman who suffered brain damage in her teens when she attempted to remove a violent man from Henry’s bed, thinking he was hurting Henry. When he flung her against a wall, she struck her head and nearly died. She didn’t understand what had been happening, but Henry did. He was allowing his mother’s boyfriend to have sex with him for the money the man promised his mother. Because he failed to keep quiet and that caused Viola to investigate, Henry blames himself for her injury. Now with a reduced mental capacity and the inability to care for herself, she’s been confined to a “care home” ever since, at a cost of over $5,000 a month— a cost paid by Henry through whatever means he can find. When Mac ultimately learns a bit more of this story, his attraction to Henry and his admiration of Henry’s inner strength grow exponentially.

Viola claims that a “bad angel” has killed her good friend Mr. Crowley at the home and begs Henry to find the angel and send it away. When Henry investigates, dressed as Viola, It satisfies not only his need to have a viable disguise to get into the facility, but his own inner desire to dress as a female. He finds evidence to suggest that the director and a volunteer have been conspiring to get some patients’ wills changed to their benefit and that Mr. Crowley may have been a victim of this death benefit scam.

In the meantime, Mac has been missing Henry, wondering where he could have gone after Mac had been shot, and he sets out to find him. After all, Henry is his missing witness in the arrest of a known gangster. Mac has also been under pressure by investigators into the brutal force supposedly used when that gangster and others in the past have been arrested by Mac. In addition, there are rumors that Mac may be a drug user and he may be implicated in the recent death of a police informant. He’s happy to take sick leave and just go to find Henry. When he tracks Henry’s sister, Viola, to the care home, imagine his surprise to find that it’s Henry, not Viola, who is in residence there. And when Henry explains his reasons for being there, Mac doesn’t know whether to kiss him or kill him for getting involved in another crazy scheme.

Mac is determined to get behind the façade of Henry Page to the real man, Sebastian Hanes, within. We see glimpses every once in a while, and Henry himself is now struggling to keep Sebastian contained. He’s never put his trust in anyone other than Viola, but he senses that Ryan “Mac” McGuiness is so very different from anyone else that Mac will protect his fragile inner child and keep him safe amid the shitstorm his life has become.

From this point on, Henry gets in deeper trouble at the care home, Mac gets in deeper trouble at work, and neither is aware that there are common threads between them in the form of certain people who have been negative influences in both their lives.

I love the way the authors are taking their time with this romance and the dynamic between Henry and Mac is outstanding. At times humorous, or poignantly romantic, their dynamic is often irritating or filled with sexual tension. And when the two finally do get together, with Henry in the guise of a female, it’s over-the-top, explosively hot. The storyline and subplots are complex and so intricately woven that I’m looking forward to the conclusion of the series so that I can view the finished product as a whole. I suspect that this is going to become one of my all-time favorite series.

Of course, this book does not end on a final conclusive note, but the promise of the next installment is much clearer in this book than in the last and I liked the way the authors left this couple. I’m definitely going to be first in line for the next book.

Cover Art by L.C. Chase depicts a partially full syringe indicating either the drug addiction of Henry’s good friend, Remy, or something far more nefarious. It’s cute and fits with the cover of the previous story.

Sales Links:  available for pre-order at Riptide Publishing now     Other links to follow

Book Details:

ebook, 205 pages
Expected publication: February 2nd 2015 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN139781626492219
edition languageEnglish
url http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/merchant-of-death
seriesPlaying the Fool #2

A MelanieM Review: The Boy with the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity #3) by Josh Lanyon

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

The Boy with the Painful Tattoo coverStill dealing with the fallout from their recent investigation and murder,  mystery author Christopher “Kit” Holmes decided to overcome his misgivings and move in with his lover and fellow mystery writer, Julian Xavier “JX” Moriarity, a decision that has precipitated a move to San Francisco and a new house.  What could go wrong?

Well, almost everything.  With boxes still piled all around them, JX heads off to the Murder at Midtown conference, leaving Kit to ponder on the wisdom of this latest move…relationship and house.  Still, nothing  prepares Kit for the dead body under the Styrofoam beads in the crate that should have contained his old and treasured china.

Packing will have to wait while more mysteries pop up to solve along with dead bodies.  Who is the dead man?  Why is he in Kit and JX’s crate?  And importantly, what happened to Kit’s china?

I have been waiting for another book in the Holmes & Moriarity series since December 2010 when I finished the marvelous story, All She Wrote (Holmes & Moriarity #2).  The aftermath of the murders and events of that novel were nothing short of earthshattering. And that story left me wonderfing what would happen next…to both our main characters as well as their relationship.  Now, four years later I finally have my answer with The Boy With The Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity #3). Well, sort of, and I couldn’t be happier.

I said “sort of” because as any fan of Josh Lanyon’s and his stories know, nothing is ever a sure thing, including an absolutely happy resolution with his characters or their relationships.  Whether it is Adrien English and his lover, the tormented, closeted Jake Riordan (who make guest appearances here), or Kit Holmes and JX Moriarity, the foundation on which their lives and relationships is built lies on shaky ground, a terrain where you almost expect to see the fissures and cracks that habitually appear to threaten their relationship, sanity, and in some cases, their lives.  Also well known to us fans is that the source for some of these ruptures and interruptions spring from and are self inflicted by the complex, introspective and wounded men that Josh Lanyon writes so well.

We live in the mind of Kit Holmes in this series and what a mind that is!  Highly intelligent, questioning, somewhat quarrelsome, and introspective, Kit’s emotionally and mentally scattered when we jump into their new life and home on Chestnut Lane.  His decision, prompted by the awful events in the last book, to move in with JX has seen him give up his home in Southern California to move with all his treasured belongings to San Francisco where JX can be close to his ex wife and nephew (long story, read the books).  And at every step and moment we know (as we are listening into his internal monologue) that Kit constantly questions whether he has done the right thing, if their relationship will work out, and how will they juggle the changing dynamics that the reversal in their career fortunes is introducing into their partnership.  There is so much stuff crammed into that brilliant skull that it would be exhausting for all trying to untangle it if it wasn’t also so marvelously entertaining.  And wouldn’t Kit just hate that!

I adore Kit in all his difficult, brooding glory but I have also fallen in love with  JX, a  man with his own “quieter” set of issues and problems.  JX is an author whose career is on the rise just as Kit’s popularity as an author and mystery genre is falling out of favor.  But whereas Kit’s wears his foibles and somewhat contentious nature like a well fitted suit, JX’s flaws and complexities are far more subtle, needing a major crash, explosion or even murder to bring them out into the open.  The juxtaposition of these two strong personalities as they struggle to maintain a relationship or investigation makes this series and this book always absorbing and highly addictive.

How can you not love a man whose just had the best, most explosive sex of his life,, and then spends the next moments pondering (internally of course) what’s wrong with it, them and himself?  All while still in bed, naked and sweaty?  If, as Socrates says “an unexamined life is not worth living”, then Kit Holmes is living life to the fullest!

And there are more joys to be found with this latest installment of Holmes & Moriarity.  Their move onto Chestnut Lane has brought them a curious neighbor with the wonderful name of Emmaline Bloodworth.  Any one with a familiarity of British cozies should be rubbing their hands together in anticipation.  Here is our (and Kit’s) first introduction to her:

I saw a small person of indeterminate sex, dressed in baggy clothes. At first glance it appeared that one of the garden gnomes from next door had come to life. And had something to say about it.

“Good morning!” the gnome greeted me. She had one of those fluting, high voices that brought to mind Sunday school teachers and curators at the most macabre exhibits at the Tower of London. A voice like an ice pick through your left eye socket. “Welcome to the neighborhood. So sorry to disturb you on your first morning, but the movers must have broken one of the sprinkler heads along your front walk.”

“Oh. Uh…okay.”

As I seemed to be missing the point, she said kindly, “Water is shooting up like a geyser out there. There’s a drought going on, you know.”

She was probably in her sixties, but unlike my former mentor Anna Hitchcock, no effort here had been made to stave off the ravages of time. Not that she looked ravaged. Beneath the wide brim of her hat I could just make out twinkling blue eyes in a round and rosy face.

And yes, she has a cat which just happens to resemble in name and appearance the feline that figures so largely in Kit’s mystery novels.  Another mystery to solve?  I hope so.

And then there is Inspector Ishwar “Izzie” Jones, SFPD and JX’s former partner, Rachel Ving or Ving the Merciless as Kit’s agent is known who wants Kit to write Swedish type mysteries, JX’s ex wife and former sister in law Nina and Gage, her son and his nephew (really, you must read the first two stories).  The Boy with the Painful Tattoo is chock full of the most wonderful characters and intriguing situations you could hope for, especially in ones that act as secondary storylines along side the primary ones of murder most foul and a relationship still looking to find solid ground, albeit temporarily.

Yes, I loved this book, yes, I adore this series and I think any lover of mysteries (M/M or otherwise) will as well.  Combine a terrific mystery with two believable and charismatic men trying to balance lives, love, and careers and you have author whose series and main characters should be on everyone’s Must Have, Must Read lists.   I can’t wait to see what happens next in the lives of Holmes & Moriarity but if you are new to this couple, start with the first mystery where they are reunited in Somebody Killed His Editor (Holmes & Moriarity #1).  Continue onto All She Wrote (Holmes & Moriarity, #2), before arriving here at The Boy with the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity, #3).  If you’ve been good or perhaps very, very naughty and good, you might find them in your eReader stocking!

I love Josh Lanyon and this story is just another reason why he should be on everyone’s top list of authors whose stories you must have.  Consider The Boy With The Painful Tattoo one of my Highly Recommneded Reads!

Cover art by L.C. Chase.  Love the cover.  It has that sort of Noir feel to it of the older mystery novel covers. Great job.

Sales Links:  Josh Lanyon        All Romance (ARe)         amazon                  buy it here

Book Details:

ebook, 228 pages
Published October 5th 2014 by Just Joshin (first published October 3rd 2014)
original titleThe Boy with the Painful Tattoo
ISBN139781937909376
edition languageEnglish
seriesHolmes & Moriarity #3

Books in the  Holmes & Moriarity series in the order they were written and should be read to understand the timeline of events and relationship history:

Somebody Killed His Editor (Holmes & Moriarity #1)
All She Wrote (Holmes & Moriarity, #2)
The Boy with the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity, #3)

 

In the Book Spotlight: Hitting Black Ice by Heloise West (book tour and contest)

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Book Name: Hitting Black Ice
Author Name: Heloise West

Heloise West is here with a contest, blurb and excerpt from her latest book, Hitting Black Ice.  The author also took a turn in our author’s interview chair.  Check it out below:

Q. Hitting Black Ice is a great title. Where did you get the inspiration for it?

If I said in a dream, would you believe me? Well, it was a two-for dream; I was trying to think of a title for story for a member of our writing group, and they both came to me just as I was starting to wake up. You know, in that middle state between dreaming and not quite awake, the hypnagogic state. I wanted something active and punchy, and I think that did the trick.

Q. What is the first idea you want the reader to imagine when they read that title?

Danger, unexpected and spinning you out of control…but if you can keep your head, you can get yourself out of it…

Q. This book has plenty of exciting elements….murder, mystery, a man on the run..how do you find a right balance for all these threads in your story?

The romance helped keep it all tied together, I think.

Q. Suspense and action are terrific elements for keeping a reader on their seats, but how do you bring the romance into it without losing that tautness of plot?

I don’t think I ever made it easy for Hunter and Shawn–even when there was a lull in the present action, the past was a threat, too. So basically, the answer is subplots that shadow and echo the main plot.

Q. What was your muse for this story?

Since the main POV character was Hunter, I listened to later Decemberists for that undercurrent of sadness. Since he’s really a country boy in the city, the folk aspect of the Decemberists worked for me, too. It’s not really a playlist. It’s the same two albums on an endless loop. The music shoves me deeper emotionally into the character.

Q. If you love to write mysteries, do you also like to read them?

I do love to write mysteries. I love to read mysteries, too, especially historical mysteries.

Q. If so, which author is a favorite of yours or is there a favorite fictional detective/sleuth character?

I can never answer “most favorite” questions or “desert island” questions (unless the answer is Matt Damon).
My favorite sleuths is a great question: (can’t answer with one 😉
Gordianus the Finder (Steven’s Saylor’s Sub Rosa series), Feste (12th century jester/spy by Alan Gordon), Adrien English, of course, and Kit and JX. Ariana Franklin’s Adelia from the Mistress of the Art of Death series; Mary, Sherlock Holmes’ young wife in Laurie King’s s

eries. Those are off the top of my head, the auto-buys, though a few of these series have ended.

Q. What’s next for Heloise West?

I’m working on a sequel to Hitting Black Ice and a Renaissance era romance/mystery suspense is on submission.

Thanks for having me here today!

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Author Bio:

Heloise West, when not hunched over the keyboard plotting love and mayhem, dreams about moving to a villa in Tuscany. She loves history, mysteries, and romance of all flavors. She travels and gardens with her partner of 10 years, and their home overflows with books, cats, art, and red wine.

Author Contact:

Publisher: Loose IDHeloiseWest_HittingBlackIce_coverin
Cover Artist: Syneca Featherstone
Sales:  Loose id    All Romance (ARe)   amazon

Hitting Black Ice Blurb:

ER physician’s assistant Hunter guards his heart carefully, but that doesn’t stop him from falling for Shawn, the front desk clerk. He keeps his distance from relationships for a reason, but just can’t help himself when it comes to Shawn.

Shawn is on the run from the law and love to protect himself and anyone else involved. One man is dead because of him, and his life now is simple and easily thrown into a bag at any hint of danger. Until he meets Hunter, and he no longer wants to run.

Forced into a hostage situation, buried passion explodes in the aftermath, and sex in the supply closet brings their hearts back to life. Tentatively, step by step, they begin to explore a relationship together until the past catches up with Shawn.

FBI agent Nick Truman has finally found his man, but when Shawn escapes, he focuses his attention on Hunter. Shawn returns, even though it means sacrificing himself to save Hunter from the man who framed him for murder.
Categories: Contemporary, Crime Fiction, M/M Romance, Mystery, Romance

Excerpt:

It was nine o’clock. They’d long lost the reservation. Hunter turned away from the warm lights of the restaurant, heart heavy. Shawn was too good to be true. For all he knew, he had a problem like Jerry’s, who’d often left him waiting, wondering, and ultimately fearing as dinner sat cold on the table. He gave in and took a step toward home.

“Hunter!”

He whipped around.

Shawn rushed toward him. He slipped on the snowy sidewalk, nearly going down, but Hunter ran at him, and they crashed together so hard his teeth clicked. Shawn’s arms went around him and his around Shawn, and they managed to hold each other up.

“I’m sorry,” were the first words out of Shawn’s mouth.

“All you deserve is pizza crusts,” Hunter mock-growled and kissed him, unconsciously trying to taste booze on his breath. Like Jerry and too many broken promises. Relieved it was only peppermint mouthwash, he didn’t stop kissing him.

When Hunter let him speak, Shawn said, “I’m starving, I’ll take it.” He pushed Hunter a little away from him. “Jesus. You’re freezing.”

“And starving. There’s a Greek pizza place down this way, come on—”

“I’ll make it up to you,” he said, taking Hunter’s hand.

 

HBIBadgeTour Dates/Tour Stops: 

2-Dec

Jade Crystal

Molly Lolly

3-Dec

The Blogger Girls

Amanda C. Stone

4-Dec

The Hat Party

5-Dec

Parker Williams

8-Dec

Charley Descoteaux

3 Chicks After Dark

9-Dec

Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings

10-Dec

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

11-Dec

Because Two Men Are Better Than One

Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves

12-Dec

Love Bytes

15-Dec

Inked Rainbow Reads

16-Dec

LeAnn’s Book Reviews

17-Dec

Multitasking Mommas

18-Dec

BFD Book Blog

19-Dec

Prism Book Alliance

22-Dec

MM Good Book Reviews

Fallen Angel Reviews

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: E-Copy of ‘Hitting Black Ice’.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Use the link provided below to enter and for all additional contest details.

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Join with Amelia C. Gormley as She Talks Gaming, Mystery, and her latest release, Player Vs Player (book tour and contest)

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“Change is dangerous when it pushes back.”

 

Welcome, Amelia C. Gormely.  Amelia is here today to talk about gaming, prejudices, mystery and Player Vs Player, her latest release for Riptide Publishing.

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Hi and welcome to the Player vs. Player blog tour!

Player vs. Player marks my first attempt at writing a whodunit, which was a bit of a scary endeavor. I’ve always been better at stories that are about character growth and exploration, of taking a character and putting them in a situation and then sitting back and watching the evolution of that character as they work their way out the other side. PvP was a much different experience, and something which took me outside my authorly comfort-zone.

Writing Player vs. Player also gave me an opportunity to combine four things I’m deeply enthusiastic about: gaming, fandom, activism, and of course, LGBT romance. I’ve been a gamer since early childhood, back when Atari had just released their first consoles. My teenage years were marked by NES and Sega, and early adulthood saw the transfer of my gaming allegiance to PC gaming.

It was because of my involvement in the fandom for Bioware’s Dragon Age franchise that I began writing m/m romance, and I eventually published courtesy of the encouragement I received from a friend I made through that fandom.

It’s also Dragon Age fandom that opened my eyes to some of the toxic undercurrents in gaming and geek culture. I had, of course, been witness to the casual misogyny and homophobia within gaming culture at various times, but until I witnessed the vitriolic free-for-all against former Bioware writer Jennifer Hepler, and then the attacks on feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian. It brought to my attention the subject of convention harassment and the Fake Geek Girl trope that is used to marginalize and invalidate the presence of women in fandom.

So when the idea occurred to me to write a book bringing all these things together, both acknowledging my roots as an author and a gamer, I had to take it. I know that the LGBT romance audience is full of other people who have experienced marginalization, misogyny, homophobia, racism, negative stereotyping, and inadequate positive representation in geek and fan culture (which by all means are not issues limited to gaming.) And I know we’ve all been witness to, and maybe even targets of, the toxic backlash that comes of speaking up and trying to change that culture.

This book is for all of us. It’s for the critics who have been driven from their homes and forced into silence by threats of violence. It’s for the cosplayers who have been groped and assaulted without their consent. It’s for the LGBTQ/POC/female geeks who have heard casual slurs in fan spaces that left them feeling alienated and unwelcome. And it’s for the people pushing to change that culture, and to make geekdom something inclusive for all of us.

*****
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Pushing for change can be dangerous when change starts pushing back.

Video game writer Niles River loves the work he does at Third Wave Studios: creating games with mass appeal that feature women, people of color, and LGBTQ characters. To make his job even better, his best friend is his boss, and his twin brother works beside him. And they mostly agree that being on the forefront of social change is worth dealing with trollish vitriol—Niles is more worried about his clingy ex and their closeted intern’s crush on his brother than he is about internet harassment.

But now the bodies on the ground are no longer virtual, and someone’s started hand-delivering threats to Niles’s door. The vendetta against Third Wave has escalated, and to make matters worse, the investigating detective is an old flame who left Niles heartbroken for a life in the closet.

No change happens without pain, but can Niles justify continuing on with Third Wave when the cost is the blood of others? If he does, the last scene he writes may be his own death.
*****

Contest: Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a choice of one book from my backlist (excluding Player vs Player.) Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 13th. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

Author Bio

Amelia C. Gormley may seem like anyone else. But the truth is she sings in the shower, dances doing laundry, and writes blisteringly hot m/m erotic romance while her son is at school. When she’s not writing in her Pacific Northwest home, Amelia single-handedly juggles her husband, her son, their home, and the obstacles of life by turning into an everyday superhero. And that, she supposes, is just like anyone else.

Her self-published novel-in-three-parts,  Impulse ( Inertia, Book One;  Acceleration, Book Two; and  Velocity, Book Three) can be found at most major online book retailers, and be sure to check Riptide for her latest releases, including her Highland historical, The Laird’s Forbidden Lover, the Professor’s Rule series of erotic novelettes (co-written with Heidi Belleau), the post-apocalyptic romance,  Strain, her New Adult contemporary,  Saugatuck Summer, and of course,  Player vs. Player, available now. She is presently at work on two more novels set in the Strain universe, Juggernaut and Bane, coming summer/fall of 2015.
You can contact Amelia on

A PaulB Review: Desert Foxe (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #5) by Haley Walsh

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 

DesertFoxe_WDWhile vacationing at Palm Spring’s annual White party, a dead body drops in front of high school English teacher Skyler Foxe’s feet. Skyler, his FBI boyfriend Keith, and the rest of the SFC are thrown into another mystery to solve.

Skyler Foxe and high school biology teacher and football coach Keith Fletcher have been dating for seven months. As spring break approaches, Skyler informs Keith that he wants to attend the annual White Party in Palm Springs. Keith, also an FBI agent on leave, is not really one for the party circuit. However, Skyler informs Keith that plans were made and paid for a year in advance. If they do not go, Skyler and his friends would be out a lot of money. After Skyler assures Keith that he is the only one for him, Keith agrees to go.

Once the members of the SFC (Skyler Fuck Club, a group of Skyler’s exes) arrive in Palm Springs, the action begins. While moving around the hotel they are staying at, Skyler discovers two of his underage students. As they don’t belong there, the group decides that Keith would drive the pair back home while the rest continue to dance. While dancing, a man who looks very much like Skyler falls down at his feet. The group thinks the guy might have just passed out from an overdose until they see blood.

Soon Skyler and Keith find out the dead man is an FBI agent working undercover in the area. It’s not just murder that Skyler and Keith are investigating but much, much more when the FBI want Skyler in a way none of them anticipated!

While this is the fifth installment of the Skyler Foxe mysteries, the author does a good job of giving enough background information so that it can be read alone. The relationship between Skyler and Keith reminds me of the one between Ricky and Lucy on “I Love Lucy.” Skyler wants to help Keith in solving his cases. Keith gets exasperated at Skyler’s attempts to help. But deep down the two love each other. The members of the SFC provide the Ethel to Skyler’s Lucy. No matter how crazy Skyler’s actions are, they reluctantly go along for the ride. Just like Ethel, they do their best to either prevent or minimize Skyler’s plans to no avail. Usually Skyler knows this going in. However, in this book, while Skyler is going undercover with Keith’s permission, they’re out of the loop. So they take it upon themselves to try to prevent another Skyler mishap.

I also enjoyed how the author brought aspects of Native American culture into the book. The discussion about Native American traditions and the previous reverence of “two-spirits” which has been eroded by exposure to modern thought was quite enlightening.

As usual, Ms Walsh provides a solid mystery and fun read. I recommend this book and series if you enjoy amateur detectives to go along with your romance.

The cover art by Winterheart Designs shows Skyler in the foreground next to a group of men partying above a scene of Palm Springs. It does well setting the stage for the book.

Sales Links: MLR Press              All Romance eBook              amazon               Buy It Here!

Book Details
Ebook, 232 pages
Published: November, 2014 by MLR Press
Edition: English

Series: Skyler Foxe Mysteries
Foxe Tail (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #1)
Foxe Hunt (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #2)
Out Foxed (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #3)
Foxe Den (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #3.5)
Foxe Fire (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #4)
Desert Foxe (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #5)

Join in the Mystery Hunt with Charlie Cochrane’s The Best Corpse for the Job (tour and contest)

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Do you love mysteries?  Are  British “Cozies” mysteries must reads?  Then Charlie Cochrane has just written a mystery for you! Today Charlie Cochrane has stopped by to talk about writing, story locations, and of course, The Best Corpse for the Job!  Check it all out below and don’t forget to leave a comment with an email address to be entered in the contest.

Saving my bacon – tales of the eleventh hour by Charlie Cochrane

All of us make mistakes in our writing. Sometimes it’s just about making assumptions, like the provenance of the word blizzard. It sounds nice and old and sort of Shakespearean, so it never occurred to me to check whether my nice gay Regency vicar could use “blizzard” in my short story “The Shade on a Fine Day”. Turns out he couldn’t, as it’s late Victorian, of US origin. Rats. I’m not alone, though – PD James has allegedly featured a motorbike reversing down a road, when they don’t have reverse gear.

I’ve been saved from making a major blooper on several occasions. The little voice in your head which tells you to double check something should never be ignored. For example, I set Lessons in Seduction in and around Pegwell Bay, Kent. As a child, I used to go on day trips there from Ramsgate when we were on holiday and in my memory, the access to the beach was flat. My memory lied to me, as I discovered when I looked at pictures of the place – there were cliffs. Luckily I had time to go back and change some of the relevant bits of the story before sending it off, but it was a close shave.

I had just such an experience relating to “The Best Corpse for the Job”. In the original draft, the people who turn up to process the crime scene were called SOCOs (Scenes of Crimes Officers), but recently those title changed to CSIs (Crime Scene Investigators). In another bout of good fortune, I was out at a barbecue with someone whose daughter was a SOCO turned CSI, so I could pick her brain about what things should be called now. Thank goodness for word processing, “find and replace”, and all the other blessings of modern writing!

The other peculiar thing which happened when writing the story is related to the name of the school where the first murder takes place. To put it in context, the governors of a school in a typically leafy, middle England type of village are recruiting a new headteacher and one of the candidates gets done in. I called the school…well, I won’t tell you what I called it originally, because it was awfully like the name of a real village school. I do some freelance training and blow me down with a feather if I didn’t get asked, just at the time I was drafting Best Corpse, to go and do some training at (you’ve guessed it!) that place I will refer to simply as “a real village school”. It gets funnier. The training I was asked to take was “Selecting and Interviewing Headteachers”.

Find and replace, find and replace, find and replace…

About The Best Corpse for the JobBest Corpse for the Job cover

Tea and sympathy have never been so deadly.

Schoolteacher Adam Matthews just wants to help select a new headteacher and go home. The governors at Lindenshaw St Crispin’s have already failed miserably at finding the right candidate, so it’s make or break this second time round. But when one of the applicants is found strangled in the school, what should have been a straightforward decision turns tempestuous as a flash flood in their small English village.

Inspector Robin Bright isn’t thrilled to be back at St. Crispin’s. Memories of his days there are foul enough without tossing in a complicated murder case. And that handsome young teacher has him reminding himself not to fraternize with a witness. But it’s not long before Robin is relying on Adam for more than just his testimony.

As secrets amongst the governors emerge and a second person turns up dead, Robin needs to focus less on Adam and more on his investigation. But there are too many suspects, too many lies, and too many loose ends. Before they know it, Robin and Adam are fighting for their lives  and  their hearts.

About Charlie Cochrane

As Charlie Cochrane couldn’t be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes, with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes, MLR and Cheyenne.
Charlie’s Cambridge Fellows Series of Edwardian romantic mysteries was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, International Thriller Writers Inc and is on the organising team for UK Meet for readers/writers of GLBT fiction. She regularly appears with The Deadly Dames.

Connect with Charlie:

Giveaway Contest:

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for an e-book from Charlie Cochrane’s backlist (excepting The Best Corpse for the Job). Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on November 29. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.   However, you must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Don’t forget to leave an email address where you can be contacted if selected in the body of your comment.

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You can follow Charlie Cochrane on her The Best Corpse for the Job tour here!

Review: Burden by Annmarie McKenna

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Burden coverIt’s Detective Keegan Monroe’s first day off after a long undercover assignment and all he wants to do is relax and enjoy his coffee.  But his day is shattered when a  man dives in front of him throwing them both to the ground.  Then a gunshot goes past them as a murder attempt fails.  The man laying on top of him is stuttering that he couldn’t let him kill Keegan.  Suspicious of his savior, Keegan takes the man into custody for questioning.  But at the precinct some astonishing facts are revealed. The suspect is a former I.A . police detective.

Detective Brennan McGuire has been struggling to adjust to the brain damage he incurred when his car went over a cliff during an investigation.  Along with stuttering and the massive physical scarring caused by the accident, Brennan also has long and short term memory problems which make it almost impossible to cope with the requirements of every day life.  Brennan can’t remember the accident or much else about his life as a police officer.  But something sparked in the depths of his traumatized memory when he saw someone aiming a gun at the man at the table and he reacted.

During the investigation into the shooting, Keegan and Brennan find themselves falling first into bed and then into a relationship.  But their romance triggers Brennan’s repressed memories of his accident with startling results.  Now Keegan and Brennan find themselves with not one mystery but two to solve and some very determined people who want to make sure that Brennan never remember.  Can Keegan and Brennan find love while keeping each other alive?

I think Annmarie McKenna has the makings of a terrific story here but several issues, including the ending, leave it at that – just the ingredients and nothing more.  I loved the idea of a brain injured detective whose traumatized brain holds the key to his injury and much more.  It’s a great plot tactic because it pulls in those readers who love the hurt/comfort element while upping the tension and anticipation in the story for the moment when the character remembers the past and pulls it all together in a satisfying denouement.   And it works for most of the story. Right up until the author throws it all away.

Detective Brennan McGuire’s life’s a mess.  He can barely remember the social niceties that get people through the day, let alone  pay for a cup of coffee. As created by McKenna, he is an object of sympathy and engages our affections immediately.  I liked her treatment of his brain trauma.  He is still touchy and snarky even if he can’t remember the simplest thing like a pepperoni pizza or to shake the hand offered to him.   His is a beautifully layered portrait of a man coping with brain trauma and not always succeeding.

Keegan Monroe is a somewhat less effective character.  As a detective who immediately gets sexually involved with a suspect, and a brain damaged suspect at that, Keegan appears to have a less than solid grasp on police ethics, not to mention the appearances of taking advantage of someone in recovery.  I got that the sparks flew between them.  McKenna does a more than credible job making us believe the men can’t keep their hands off each other.  But the facts about their relationship and Brennan’s physical and mental state kept me from throughly investing myself in their affair.

The author does a good job in plotting out the mystery for the readers.  She slowly gears up the anxiety over the safety of the men as more and more facts about  Brennan are revealed. But all the suspense and anticipation is demolished in an ending that is rushed and incomplete in terms of motives and facts.  I was, in fact, astonished when I came to the end.  All that build up and the reader gets nothing for their time and effort spent on this story.  It pretty much just stops with no real explanation, no satisfactory reveal of  all the criminals, and certainly no resolution to the relationship of a detective and a still brain damaged individual.

And that is a shame because this book could have been so much more.  With a longer, more fully developed ending and perhaps even an epilogue, this could have been one of my “must read” recommendations.  But as it is, I will say that if you are a fan of Annmarie McKenna, then pick this up.  But if you are looking for romance, a terrific mystery and an ending that will leave you satisfied, then head elsewhere.

Cover by Angela Waters.  This is just a generic cover that has nothing really to do with the story.  Grade C for effort.

Book Details:

ebook, 117 pages
Published July 30th 2013 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN 1619218291 (ISBN13: 9781619218291)
edition language English