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.

Murder at the Seven Dials (A Bow Street Duchess Mystery)

Title: Murder at the Seven Dials (A Bow Street Duchess Mystery)

Author: Cara Devlin

Publisher: First Cup Press

Release Date: January 28, 2023

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

Page Count: 317

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

In this first book of Cara Devlin's new Regency-era murder/mystery series, we are introduced to Hugh Marsden, a Bow Street Runner, and Audrey Sinclair, the Duchess of Fournier. They are brought together by a horrible murder - the bloody slashing death of an opera singer in a suite of rooms where Philip, the Duke of Fournier, is found drenched in blood and incoherent, knife by his side. Officer Marsden believes the case open-and-shut, while Audrey is absolutely convinced of her husband's innocence.   

What follows is an intriguing murder mystery, as Audrey recklessly forges ahead with her investigation, only to be stymied and eventually aided by Hugh Marsden.  We quickly learn that Audrey and Philip's marriage is a shield for their respective secrets - Philip's secret is why Audrey knows that Philip was not interested in an affair with a woman, while Audrey's secret is a heck of a plot device as she is able to discern past events when she touches an item.  For example, as she finds an earbob from the dead opera singer, she sees a partial image of the killer. 

Hugh Marsden has a past, which slowly comes into focus as the story unfolds.  The murder / mystery is densely plotted and continues to hold interest as the intrigue gets more complex and more suspects and motives are unveiled.  In addition, the author deftly balances the drudging respect that Marsden develops for Audrey, with his interest in her as a woman.  It's a nicely done very slow burn, which has some interesting possibilities.

When the murderer is finally revealed, it feels a bit too abrupt, or maybe it's just that we've been led along a merry bloody chase and then suddenly it's over.  However, I was delighted to read the first chapter of the next book in the series,  and am anxiously to read more about Audrey and Marsden.  4.5 stars.

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

Murder on Monte Vista (Mason Adler Mystery #1)

Title: Murder on Monte Vista (Mason Adler Mystery #1)

Author: David S. Pederson

Publisher: Bold Stroke Books

Release Date: March 15, 2022

Genre(s): Murder / Mystery, Private Investigator, Historical

Page Count: 226

Rating: 3 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

David Pederson's first series, the Heath Barrington Mysteries set in Milwaukee in the 1950s, introduced us to his detective protagonist and and placed Heath in a number of situations where he was directly involved in the case - in a secluded private home with a host of suspects, on a boat on Lake Michigan where a murder takes place, at a large hotel in Chicago, etc. 

In contrast, this first book in his new Mason Adler Mystery series reads as if it were a stage play, with most of the action happening off-stage. We learn of cases that Mason has solved in the past, including a very recent case of a "was it murder or suicide" and the murder (in an ornately decorated home on Monte Vista in post WWII-Phoenix) doesn't kick in until around 65% through the book. 

Even when Adler solves this intriguing "locked room" mystery, it doesn't occur at the scene, but rather in a discussion with his acquaintance Walter Wingate, the interior decorator in whose home the murder occurred. As far as the cast of characters, Mason's friend Lydia is nicely fleshed-out, but most of the secondary characters are very lightly developed. One exception is Walter Wingate, but personally I found him very mean-spirited (or completely unaware of anything other than his own interests). 

I did like the way Pederson gives us a feel for the era and the manner in which one had to live their life at a time when homosexuality was still illegal. Mason is a character I'd like to learn more about, and I'd like to see him more actively involved in investigating for his clients. 3 stars for Murder on Monte Vista and I look forward to seeing how the series develops. 

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

Death Comes Darkly (A Detective Heath Barrington Mystery #1)

Title: Death Comes Darkly (A Detective Heath Barrington Mystery #1)

Author: David S. Pederson

Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Release Date: April 1, 2016

Genre(s): Murder/Mystery, Historical

Page Count: 240

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

Dark Comes Darkly has the feel of a classic Agatha Christie mystery, in which a group of people spend a weekend in a country estate, someone is murdered and everyone is a suspect.  Set in 1947 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Detective Heath Barrington is invited by Dexter S. Darkly to spend a weekend at his isolated estate.  Upon arrival, he meets the ex-Mrs. Darkly, Dexter's daughter and son-in-law, Dexter's brother-in-law from his first marriage, the servants Bishop and Nora, and Harwood Acres, the college roommate and lover of Dexter's son, Nigel, who died 10 years ago (to whom Detective Barrington bears an uncanny resemblance.) 

Detective Barrington's +1 is his lover, policeman Alan Keyes, who arrives the next day via train, just in time to help him investigate a murder.   Turns out almost everyone had a reason to kill Dexter Darkly, but is the obvious suspect the murderer, or is it a set-up?   The author does a wonderful job of unveiling the truth bit by bit, and tosses enough red herrings into the mix to keep the reader guessing until the very end.   

Barrington and Keyes' relationship is hinted at, but there are no sex scenes in the book (other than a kiss or two).  Also, it appears that Keyes and Barrington have recently met at another murder scene, but as far as I can tell, Death Comes Darkly is the first book by Mr. Pedersen.  But even if this is the second book in a series, it works very well as a stand-alone book. 

I would rate this book a 4.5 stars, and look forward to reading more by David S. Pederson.

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

Fadeout (Dave Brandstetter Mystery #1)

Title: Fadeout (Dave Brandstetter Mystery, #1)

Author: Joseph Hansen

Publisher: Soho Press

Release Date: January 11, 2022

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

Page Count: Rating: 5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

There's a singular joy in discovering a "new to you" author and then learning the book is only the first of twelve (12) books in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series. 

Set in California in the mid 1960's, Dave is mourning the loss of his lover Rod with whom he shared 20 years. He is open about his homosexuality and honest about his grief. "He'd made up his mind to live now. Hadn't he? Live and forget - at least until he could remember without pain. And that would happen someday. Sure it would. All the books said so." 

But what the characters in Fadeout initially see is a 40's-ish tall, slim elegant man with a keen mind, and a quiet determination to get to the bottom of this case. He's Don Draper without the family issues, alcohol issues, and well .... issues. 

Dave, a death claims investigator for Medallion Insurance, is investigating the disappearance of local celebrity Fox Olson, a man who we slowly learn has closed himself off from his past, and allowed his own grief to remain quietly unexamined. And as Brandstetter unfolds the mystery layer by methodical layer, it all becomes almost overwhelming in its sadness for what may have been. 

Simply put, Joseph Hansen is a stellar writer who tells what appears on the surface to be an unsentimental murder mystery in the most heart-breaking sentimental way possible. 5 stars. 

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

Shadows Left Behind: An Historical Mysteries Box Set

Title: Shadows Left Behind: An Historical Mysteries Box Set 

Author: Josh Lanyon 

Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing 

Release Date: April 2, 2021 

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

Page Count: 524 

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

 

Read book blurb here 

"Shadows Left Behind" is a set of five historical mysteries ranging from WWI to post-WWII. 1916 to 1948. I've always enjoyed Lanyon's historicals because the characters feel true to the era and she does an excellent job of giving us the time period without too many extraneous details. 

Overall, I would give this collection 4 stars, with some stories a bit higher and others lower: 

Out of the Blue (1916) - Set in WWI, with planes dogfighting above the trenches and the staggering loss of life, two pilots meet because of a murder and its cover-up. I had a niggle about the way Lanyon develops the relationship between Bat and Cowboy and how its beginning is somewhat creepy and nonconsensual (due to blackmail) but she captures the feeling of grabbing life and love, while know that any day could be their last. 3.5 stars. 

The Dark Farewell (1922) - Set in Illinois during the Prohibition, reporter David Flynn meets Julian Devereaux, a traveling spiritualist / medium and it doesn't take a crystal ball to see that Julian is very attracted to David, and vice versa. Throw in a series of murders in the area, a traveling salesman, a death in the boarding house, labor unrest, hot nights and cool jazz, and this compelling story definitely held my interest .... until the final chapter where the story is way too quickly resolved. 4 stars. 

This Rough Magic (1935) - A great setting and two intriguing main characters (PI Neil Patrick Rafferty, and the upper crust Brett Sheridan) but where it falls apart, IMHO, is all the characters - there's Brett's sister and her tragically dead fiance, her relationship with a shady character, the stepmother with a mysterious past, Brett's delusional family and his shoplifting / piano playing sister, the wacky father and his love of Etruscan art, the siblings named Sebastian and Viola (and their dearly departed brother .... Hamlet) .... sigh. 3 stars. 

Slay Ride (1943): This story was a bit uneven, with a far-too long car chase and hostage / robbery / murder situation, which is quickly wrapped up with a single newspaper article and a short epilogue. But the relationship between Police Chief Rob Garrett and young reporter Jamie Johnson is very well-done. 3.5 stars. 

Murder Between the Pages (1948): This is my favorite story in the collection, an entertaining "locked room" mystery, set in 1948 or so, with two crime writers who hate each other with a passion, and in the process of solving a crime find themselves begrudgingly falling in love. Lanyon gives us two men who survived the war - one in the OSS and the other as a pilot - but still miss the excitement, and having a purpose. 4.5 stars. 

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