mystery

The Best Corpse for the Job by Charlie Cochrane

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

22741222
Grade: C
Hotness Level: Ember
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m, mystery
Published: 11/24/14
Reviewed by Anne
298 pages

Robin is an inspector on the police force and he’s not thrilled to be called to scene at his old primary school.  There aren’t a lot of happy memories for him there.  Adam is a school teacher he meets there during his investigation.  They’re immediately attracted to each other, and the case keeps throwing them together, but neither of them wants to compromise the investigation.

I’d read a story by this author earlier in the year and enjoyed it.  I was saw this book listed on NetGalley’s romance section and I thought I’d give it a try.  I thought it worked well as a mystery, but was weak as a romance.  Unfortunately, I’m a romance reader who enjoys a mystery now and then, not vice versa, so it didn’t work very well for me.

It’s a typical large cast who-dun-it mystery.  I had a bit of hard time keeping everyone straight, but I know that’s part of the mystery.  I really enjoyed that Robin and Adam had a lot of chemistry but were responsible enough to keep it in their pants during the case.  It was also cute how they were happy to find reasons to contact each other.

While it wasn’t a great read for me, I’d recommend it for mystery lovers.

Dangerous Ground by Josh Lanyon

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne
16150524
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m, mystery, suspense
Series: Dangerous Ground #1
Published: 4/22/2008
Reviewed by Anne
89 ebook pages

Taylor and Will are special agents for the Department of Diplomatic Security.  They’ve been together for three years.  They’re great friends and are both out of the closet gay men, but not lovers.  That doesn’t mean they don’t have an attraction to each other, but they’ve never acted on it.  Still, things were thrown out of balance a few weeks ago when Taylor was shot.  He’s almost ready to come back to work, but the strain between them is an issue.  They decide that a weekend camping together will give them time to work through things.  As if working around emotional shrapnel between the two of them isn’t enough, they stumble across the remains of a plane used in a crime a few months ago.  Now there’s a lot more on the line than just their friendship and work relationship.

I’m pretty picky when it comes to mysteries.  I really enjoy some authors, but find others to be way too intense for me, especially without the balance of a romance or HEA.  I do enjoy JD Robb, Julia Spencer-Fleming, and Josh Lanyon, though.  I’ve been slowly working my way through Lanyon’s backlist.  That’s what brought me to Dangerous Ground.  

Lanyon hasn’t failed me yet, and this was no exception.  Will and Taylor are interesting and distinct characters.  I liked the way they were both caught off guard by their feelings for each other and it was interesting to watch how they handled them.  They have a banter and humor together that kept me smiling.  The suspense was realistic enough to keep me wondering how in the world they would work things out.

I’m glad I read it, and now I’ve got a new series to read!  That said, it didn’t grab me and refuse to let go the way that the Adrien English series did.  Still, I look forward to the rest of Taylor and Will’s stories.  How about you?  Do you read mysteries?  If so, do you have a favorite series?

Wild Hearts by Tina Wainscott

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne


Wild Hearts (Justiss Alliance, #0.5)
Grade-A
Hotness Level-None
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Justiss Alliance #0.5
Reviewed by Kay
72 pages

This is a prequel novella to spawn a series about five ex-Navy SEALs. After a mission that was a clusterfuck, these men were discharged but thankfully not court martialled. Even though they were not responsible for this screwed up mission, they were the ones that were blamed to appease the masses. To avoid jail time they had to sign contracts forbidding them to talk about what really happened on that ill fated mission.

As they are leaving the courthouse, a man approaches them with a job offer. He is the founder of the Justiss Alliance and they handle what sounds like protection and black ops work. He leaves his cards with each of the men and asks them to consider his offer.

At this point, you get a glimpse at each of the men in this SEAL group. Some of their home lives and if they will join the Justiss Alliance. These men are named: Risk, Rath, Saxby, Knox and Julian.

I can’t wait to read this series. I have the first one loaded and ready on my Kindle. I hope they are as good as Maya Banks’ KGI series or Cindy Gerard’s Black Ops Inc. series. I love romantic suspense and I adore military romantic suspense. This prequel had no sex in it and I do hope the series does. If it doesn’t, well that’s just stupid.