A Death at His Majesty's (The Simon Simpson Mysteries, #3)

Title: A Death at His Majesty's (The Simon Simpson Mysteries, #3)

Author: David Dawson

Publisher: Park Creek Publishing

Release Date: April 18, 2024

Genre(s): Historical Murder Mystery

Page Count: 280

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

The first two book in the Simon Sampson Mysteries series are set in late 1932 and 1933 in London and Berlin, respectively, featuring political conspiracies and high intrigue. The main character, Simon Sampson works for BBC news and his close friend Bill (Florence Mills) manages the BBC library, although they are each equally comfortable in the arena of spies and espionage. 

A Death at His Majesty's serves as a prequel to the series, set in 1929 London when Bill was Noel Coward's beleaguered assistant and Simon worked as a journalist for the Chronicle. They meet when the prop girl, Maureen Lyon, Bill's former lover, is founded murdered by the stage door of the Majesty, when Noel Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet is set to open. A second death leaves Bill and Simon searching for a common thread to the death and uncovering a killer that may have connections to those in powerful places. 

As always, Dawson does an exception job of setting the scene with historic details about the era, and the gay men and women who lived in an other version of London. Ironically, "it's not even illegal in this country for women to be ... Sapphic ... as far as I know. The law's just obsessed with buggery, you know. Between chaps. The ladies are left alone." Yet this did not prevent women who frequented bars such as Paradise Regained, the Cherry Tree or the Honey Pot from pressure from the police. 

We also get Bill's POV throughout the book and get more of a glimpse into her background, and her acerbic personality. But we also see all the societal pressures that Bill fought against; Simon's Aunt Cynny, who has an important job in the Home Office, serves as an example of the few women who managed to overcome these assumptions and pressures. 

Personally, I didn't think the mystery and conclusion as gripping as the end of A Death in Berlin (but then, it is hard to top that ending!) and some characters like Darling were sort of shoe-horned in without a lot of depth, However, learning how Bill and Simon became friends and getting more pieces of the history of pre-WWII, I did like this installment in the series. I think the author has definitely found his niche, and as always, I'm looking forward to the next book! 4 stars. 

I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Death in the Spires

Title: Death in the Spires

Author: KJ Charles

Publisher: Storm Publishing

Release Date: April 11, 2024

Genre(s): M/M Murder Mystery, Historical

Page Count: 273

Rating: 5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

Jem, Nicky, Aaron, Hugh, Toby, Ella and Prue - The Seven Wonders, or at the start "Feynsham's set" - Toby's curated collection of fellow students who met their first year in Oxford, becoming fast friends, until Toby's murder in the spring of their third year, 1895. Ten years after, Jem loses his lowly clerk job because of a note sent to his employer: 

Jeremy Kite is a murderer. 

He killed Toby Feynsham. 

Ask him why. 

Following Toby's death, they never told the police what really happened earlier that horrid evening and they went on with their lives, with varying degrees of success. Jem, who fell perhaps the lowest in the aftermath, decides once and for all to uncover who murdered Toby ... and why. 

 KJ Charles gives us the world of Oxford seen in a hundred movies (The world was before them, a great sunlit path through pleasant meadows with a glittering city at its end ready for them to conquer.) - Hugh Grantesque boys in long robes on the quad, friends arm in arm walking down the hallowed paths, student theatricals, etc.: 

"They were facing south, looking over Front Quad and Broad Street and toward the main spread of Oxford, and the setting sun turned everything before him to glowing rose gold. The domes and spires rose like masts from the sea, like prayers to heaven, a glory of human brilliance in stone ..." 

But it's also a world where while there is love and friendship, there is more. "Ah, British friendship ... Tolerance as long as everyone knows his place, but God forbid your subjects should declare themselves your equals." As Nicky says "So: all of us could have, none of us would have, one of us did." And while we ponder Toby's murder, we are lead to ask if murder can ever be justified and if worse crimes have gone unpunished. 

It's all deep, heady stuff and KJ Charles shepherds us through the discoveries, the abject sadness, the philosophical and the practical, all the while giving us a small M/M romance (with absolutely no hint of a HFN or HEA). I found this book deeply moving, completely engrossing and 5+ stars and a Recommended Read if you have the heart for it. 

I received an ARC from the publisher, Storm Publishing, in exchange for an honest review.

Blackmailer's Delight

Title: Blackmailer's Delight

Author: David Lawrence

Publisher: Broadbound Publishing LLC

Release Date: February 12, 2024

Genre(s): M/M Historical Romance

Page Count: 325

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

In the midst of the French Revolution, the English "Revolt of the Housewives" erupted in 1795, whereby the mostly female rioters redistributed food stores to those in need, after one of England's coldest winters, setting fair prices for the food and paying the proceeds back to the original owners. I love how the women strived to give all involved a good outcome, and in a sense, this reflects the overall tone of David Lawrence's book. 

Throughout the course of Blackmailer's Delight, we find, yup, blackmailers, some perfectly horrid characters, miscommunications and misunderstands galore, and situations where there seems to be no good outcome. And at first, the tone of the writing - for me personally - was a bit much to really digest. There's a certain formal tone and a huge amount of descriptions that bogs down the story and many of the actions and events in the book are told after the fact, or recalled as a memory, resulting in a lack of immediacy. 

But once the plot is fully in swing, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it all. Daniel Thornton goes to Grantham to care for his ailing uncle, declaring that he wished to find the goodness in the world. Yet when confronted with Luke Morley "this young man I've joked with, caroused with, argued with, f@cked with, and tried to emotionally blackmail. Everything, it seems, except to speak to properly.") he believes the absolute worst of him, and yet believes most of what his ex Clarence tells him. 

Clarence starts out as a simply horrid character who I was eager to write off, and yet Daniel manages to find a good resolution to their former relationship. He manages to circumvent the supposed blackmail plan for his marriage to Luke's sister, and the solution is really a stroke of genius all the way around. The secondary characters are well-developed and fleshed out and as the book come to an end, there is a world of possibilities for all the characters. 4 stars.

I received an ARC from the Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Curio

Title: Curio

Author: CS Poe

Publisher: Emporium Press

Release Date: February 5, 2024

Genre(s): M/M Contemporary Romance

Page Count: 60

Rating: 5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

Llewellyn Cooper (Lew) and his aunt Julia ("Remember the summer you took up performance art in the park and destroyed all your panties in front of picnicking families?" "It was art, Lew. I was making a statement.") run the Curio Cabinet in NYC's West Village and have lately been fascinated by Professor Bow Tie (Henry), a natty dresser (albeit with thick thighs and a lumberjack beard) who sorts endlessly through old photos in their shop, occasionally buying a photo or two.

Julia insists Henry and Lew would make a great couple. And even after a somewhat fraught first date ("I started to giggle. And not in a cute way either - but in a hysterical way that'd have had a nineteenth-century woman locked away."), Lew and Henry find they are, indeed, a good fit. 

This novella packs in a lot - quirky well-developed characters, an Easter egg (or two?), and the start of what looks to be an interesting relationship. Toss in a robbery, a WWI-era mystery, a steamy sex scene (and, yes, this all fits nicely into this 60-page novella) and you have a thoroughly enjoyable story that I personally loved. 5 stars.

I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Cross My Candy Heart

Title: Cross My Candy Heart

Author: A.C. Thomas

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: February 6, 2024

Genre(s): M/M Contemporary Romance, Valentine's Day

Page Count: 95

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

This novella answers the question: "How do you let someone know you're totally crushing on them when dressed as a slightly mangy teddy bear or in a duck costume with candy-striped tights and big webby feet?" 

After his latest bad relationship with a truly horrid ex, Justin is working three jobs to get his head anywhere close to above water. And as an employee of "Season's Greetings," he delivers singing telegrams. AND his latest one is a doozy - Adam Hubert (who I picture as James Garner with a heavier brow and a scowl) is definitely not feeling the Valentine love with this anonymous embarrassing delivery. And to make it worse, Adam is his daily 7:15 am "extra-large Americano with a double shot of espresso" order / crush at the coffee shop where Justin also works. 

What follows is a sweet story of two guys who find they may not be perfect, but they are perfect for each other. But along the way, each man spends far too much time bemoaning their unworthiness - way, way too much time, IMHO - plus the requisite miscommunication and some angst. But no worries - a very improbable resolution to who is sending Adam these singing telegrams (plus a pretty darn steamy sex scene) makes for a very satisfying HEA. 4 stars. 

I received an ARC from IndiGo Marketing and Design in exchange for an honest review.