Fatal Shadows

I found everything written by Josh Lanyon great, but this series is definetly going to be one of my favourites. ( )

As far as mysteries went, this one was a bit of a stretch (and thus the reason for three stars rather than four). The characters and romance were spot on, however.

9/16/12 - Bumped my review up to 4 stars on re-read. I have the omnibus of books 1 & 2, which means I tend to view them as a single story. Adrien and Jake have great chemistry, and Adrien himself is one of my favorite amateur sleuths. ( )

A fun, light mystery with a lot of gay characters and a bit of sex. Unfortunately, that pretty much sums it up. A lot of the stereotypes of gay men get rolled out in dialogue -- is there anyone in the book that isn't gay but looks positively on it? I am interested in seeing where the tension between Jake Riordan and Adrien English goes, though, despite Riordan's talk of how gay relationships can't be healthy and fulfilling. I do kind of hope that Adrien -- at least eventually -- fixes that.

There are some details that stick in my mind: the writer's group, the bookshop, and poor Claude. I think I'm drawn to Adrien and Jake more because they're gay than because they're fully realised, interesting characters, but with more books in the series, there's time. ( )

First title in the Adrien English mystery series. I was pleasantly surprised by this very low key, no frill with some dark corners intrigue. Adrien English, bookshop owner with a specialty in mysteries, not yet published mystery writer himself finds he is the target of a stalker as well as being the main suspect in the brutal murder of his childhood friend/employee. The secondary characters are interesting, especially Adrien's mother, socialite Lisa, the writers circle is a bit stereotyped but it's Adrien we are intrigued by. The police detective Jake Riordan becomes more important as the plot progresses. It's not an original plot and you'll guess who the stalker is early on but overall it's a good read. ( )

Book One of the Adrien English Mysteries. Adrian English owns a book store in LA, and one day the police show up to tell him that his co-worker and high school friend Robert has been murdered, and so far they only have one suspect: Him. Can he convince the cops he's innocent, and find out who the real killer is?

I'm going to be completely honest: I picked up this book because the hero's name was Adrien. But I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I'm not usually a big fan of mysteries, but I enjoyed this book a lot. It kept me going back to it compulsively to find out what was going to happen next, and when the big reveal came, I actually let out a gasp and said "Oh no!" As far as the romance went...there wasn't much. There are only the smallest hints that the main couple will go on to get together in later books. I hope the later books spend a lot of time convincing me of their romance, because I didn't really see much attraction in this book. ( )