Fair Game by Josh Lanyon

Fair Game by Josh Lanyon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book Blurb:

A crippling knee injury forced Elliot Mills to trade in his FBI badge for dusty chalkboards and bored college students. Now a history professor at Puget Sound university, the former agent has put his old life behind him-but it seems his old life isn't finished with him.

A young man has gone missing from campus-and as a favor to a family friend, Elliot agrees to do a little sniffing around. His investigations bring him face-to-face with his former lover, Tucker Lance, the special agent handling the case.

Things ended badly with Tucker, and neither man is ready to back down on the fight that drove them apart. But they have to figure out a way to move beyond their past and work together as more men go missing and Elliot becomes the target in a killer's obsessive game...

My Review:

I enjoyed this. The mystery kept me guessing and I found myself hoping that Elliot would make peace with the injury that caused him to leave the FBI. I was also rooting for him to allow his ex, Tucker (who is still with the Bureau), back into his life.

I didn't think Fair Game was quite on par with the Adrien English series (also by Josh Lanyon)--especially since I just finished those books and I'm missing Adrien! But this was still a fun read, and I'd be happy to spend more time with Elliot and Tucker in a sequel.

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The Dark Tide by Josh Lanyon

The Dark Tide by Josh Lanyon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book Blurb:

As if recovering from heart surgery beneath the gaze of his over-protective family wasn’t exasperating enough, someone keeps trying to break into Adrien English’s bookstore. What is this determined midnight intruder searching for?

When a half-century old skeleton tumbles out of the wall in the midst of the renovation of Cloak and Dagger Bookstore renovation, Adrien turns to hot and handsome ex-lover Jake Riordan -- now out-of-the closet and working as a private detective.

Jake is only too happy to have reason to stay in close contact with Adrien, but there are more surprises in Adrien’s past than either one of them expects -- and one of them may prove hazardous to Jake’s own heart.

My Review:

When Adrien finds a decades-old corpse boarded up under his floor, he just can't bring himself to leave it for the police to solve alone. So he turns to Jake, who's out of the closet now and working as a P.I. For the first time, it seems like these two have a chance to build a lasting relationship. But only if they can come to terms with their past.

Adrien and Jake track down witnesses in this cold case, keeping me guessing till the end. At the same time, they try to figure out where they stand with each other. But Adrien's mother and step family are there to help, and Guy, Mel and Angus all play a part.

The Dark Tide provides plenty of closure, but don't read it by itself! Start from the beginning of the Adrien English series.

I was apprehensive when I started this series; I loved mysteries, but I had never read a gay romance before. I didn't know how I'd handle the explicit scenes. Well, I only keep my eyes half-closed now. (And they don't dominate the book anyway.) And after this satisfying finale, all I can think about is how much I'll miss Adrien!

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Adrien English Mysteries: Fatal Shadows and A Dangerous Thing by Josh Lanyon

Adrien English Mysteries: Fatal Shadows and A Dangerous Thing by Josh Lanyon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Blurb:

Relationships can be murder. Bookseller and mystery author Adrien English is looking for love in all the wrong places--and, according to hot and handsome LAPD detective Jake Riordan, it's liable to get him killed.

My Review:

Fatal Shadows and A Dangerous Thing are the first two books of the Adrien English series, sold together as one book for Kindle. This mystery romance was my first M/M book, and though I skipped over the explicit scenes, I fell for Adrien and his snappy narration.   I enjoyed the other characters as well, including Adrien's over-protective mother, his closeted love interest and his slightly spooky assistant.

Despite his uncanny ability to get tangled up in murder mysteries, Adrien's not a private eye or a cop. He's just a mystery book store owner who's trying to make it through the day and find acceptance and love . . . preferably without discovering any more bodies along the way. 

This book came highly recommended and did not disappoint. In fact, I'm already devouring the third book in the series. Explicit scenes aside--which are not my thing--this is a four star read!

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Murder, She Wrote: A Fatal Feast by Jessical Fletcher & Donald Bain

The townsfolk of Cabot Cove: William Windom as Dr. Hazlitt, Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher, and Ron Masak as Sheriff Metzger

Murder, She Wrote: A Fatal Feast by Jessica Fletcher

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book Blurb:

The newest novel in the USA Today bestselling series finds Jessica Fletcher cooking up a heartwarming holiday dinner-and a fresh serving of trouble...Jessica Fletcher would like nothing more than to sit back and relax as Thanksgiving comes to Cabot Cove. But this year, she's already got more on her plate than she can handle.

Jessica is suffering from a rare case of writer's block, and the deadline for her new novel is fast approaching. Also, her friend, Scotland Yard Inspector George Sutherland, is coming from London to experience the American holiday. But most distressing of all, Jessica is hosting a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner for a guest list that is growing by the day. Jessica carries on toward her culinary conquest, and she couldn't be more thankful about the results. Until she and George take a post-turkey stroll and stumble upon the body of a man with a carving knife stuck in his chest...

My Review:

A pleasant way to spend a wintry afternoon: catching up with old friends in Cabot Cove! All the regular townsfolk are on hand as Jessica Fletcher celebrates Thanksgiving and solves a murder. An enjoyable cozy mystery, especially for fans of the show.

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Naked Heat by Richard Castle

Naked Heat by Richard Castle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Blurb:

In the sequel to the New York Times bestselling Heat Wave, Richard Castle does it again with his thrilling new mystery. Tough, sexy, professional, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads. In what's sure to be another smash sensation by blockbuster author Richard Castle, readers will once again follow Nikki Heat and hotshot reporter Jameson Rook as they trade barbs and innuendos all while on the trail of a murderer!
My Review:

Like Heat Wave, this is another light, enjoyable mystery with Richard Castle, the TV character, as the alleged author. The banter among the characters is just as much fun as it is on the show and the mystery kept me guessing. Again, you can enjoy this even if you don't watch Castle, but you'll miss half fun!

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Heat Wave by Richard Castle

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Blurb:

A New York real estate tycoon plunges to his death on a Manhattan sidewalk. A trophy wife with a past survives a narrow escape from a brazen attack. Mobsters and moguls with no shortage of reasons to kill trot out their alibis. And then, in the suffocating grip of a record heat wave, comes another shocking murder and a sharp turn in a tense journey into the dirty little secrets of the wealthy. Secrets that prove to be fatal. Secrets that lay hidden in the dark until one NYPD detective shines a light.

Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City's top homicide squads. She's hit with an unexpected challenge when the commissioner assigns superstar magazine journalist Jameson Rook to ride along with her to research an article on New York's Finest. PulitzerPrize-winning Rook is as much a handful as he is handsome. His wise-cracking and meddling aren't her only problems. As she works to unravel the secrets of the murdered real estate tycoon, she must also confront the spark between them. The one called heat.

My Review:

This book can stand alone as an enjoyable mystery, but it's so much more fun if you're a fan of the TV show Castle. I love the lengths the book goes to in order to present Castle as a real author who writes about Jameson Rook! Better yet, just as in the show, New York City is a lively presence in its own right.
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The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book Blurb:

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

My Review:

Spectacular! I borrowed this from the library, but I'll have to buy my own copy on Kindle.

This is a funny, sad and thought-provoking view of the relationships between white and black, employer and ‘help’ in the Mississippi of the early 1960’s. I can understand why so many book clubs are reading it!

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