Dorien Grey (1933–2015)
Author of The Butcher's Son
About the Author
Series
Works by Dorien Grey
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Roger Margason
- Birthdate
- 1933-11-14
- Date of death
- 2015-11-01
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Northern Illinois University
- Short biography
- Roger Margason, who used the pseudonym of Dorien Grey, was an openly gay American author, (born in Northern Illinois). Margason served in the U.S. Navy and graduated from Northern Illinois University with a BA in English. He died on November 1, 2015.
Margason was the author of the fourteen-book Dick Hardesty mystery series, which received a WordWeaving Series of Excellence award, and four of which have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award. He was also the author of the four-book Elliott Smith Paranormal Mystery series. In addition to his two series, he had a stand-alone gay western/romance/adventure novel, Calico, aimed at young adults and traditional western buffs; Short Circuits: A Life in Blogs; Dreams of a Calico Mouse, a book of poetry; and A World Ago: a Navy Man's Letters Home, 1954-1956. - Nationality
- USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Interesting but less of a surprise than the first novel in this gay detective series. It could have been read before "The Butcher's Son" since the plot of the first novel had no impact on this one. Still, the mystery is complex and solid. I saw the clues and the red herrings and knew the end before I got there but the journey to the last chapter wasn't boring. Hardesty is still amusing and fun. He's like an old fashioned detective that happens to be gay so he flirts and hits on guys instead show more of girls.`*g* I'll read the next one just to see how he resolves the moral dilemma from this novel. show less
3,5 stars rounded out to 4 stars. It's a good, solid Dick Hardesty novel. An important one in the series since it's the turning point where Jonathan, Dirk become through life's tragedy a family over night.
That road is not perfect and one of the strong part of the book is Dirk, Jonathan and Joshua navigating becoming a family. Kid!fic is never easy to pull off but Dorien Grey does it. The reader is pulled into the journey of the characters and how Hardesty's latest case mirrors his private show more life with very different outcome. The mystery is tight and plausible and you don't feel cheated at the reveal. Also Hardesty plays it like an adult/family man and the professional he is, which is to say he doesn't pull off an idiot's move hoping to be on top of the villain in the end. He plays is smart and it's refreshing to read. (l show less
That road is not perfect and one of the strong part of the book is Dirk, Jonathan and Joshua navigating becoming a family. Kid!fic is never easy to pull off but Dorien Grey does it. The reader is pulled into the journey of the characters and how Hardesty's latest case mirrors his private show more life with very different outcome. The mystery is tight and plausible and you don't feel cheated at the reveal. Also Hardesty plays it like an adult/family man and the professional he is, which is to say he doesn't pull off an idiot's move hoping to be on top of the villain in the end. He plays is smart and it's refreshing to read. (l show less
Interesting little mystery from a tiny little SF publishing company. I don't even remember how this ended up on my bookshelf. But, I'm happy it did - it was a fast read, the mystery was good and the whodunnit plausible although potentially easily guessed. The stakes are decent. The ending is a little ambiguous, but it's good in the way that you get to "decide" how it ends. If it had been a little longer with some more in-depth characterizations it would probably have gotten a much higher show more rating. The biggest problem is that it's a little "chatty" in that it's written pretty much as normal people speak. That might sound like a good idea when you're writing, but in reality it's distracting because you're almost forced to read aloud to "get" the character. show less
I really wanted to love this book. Great premise: after an accident, Elliott wakes up in the hospital with no memory of how he got there. The doctors fill him in, but he quickly becomes aware of a presence in his hospital room. This presence/ghost follows him home.
Elliott's friendly ghost, John, has amnesia and does not know anything but his name. Elliott begins to try and unravel the mystery of John's identity and murder.
Most of the book is boring descriptions of the minutiae of Elliott's show more day: he makes coffee, he gets dressed, he reads a book, he takes a nap, he calls people. These descriptions take up paragraphs!
He has an obnoxious relationship with his sister (a thoroughly one-dimensional character) purely so that he has access to a police officer, here his brother-in-law.
The story of John's alias and his link to Elliott's new relationship strains credulity. I remember barking a laugh at that part.
A cool idea to have a mystery series starring Elliott the Contractor and his side-kick John the Ghost, but the first volume managed to make this boring so I will probably pass on subsequent volumes. show less
Elliott's friendly ghost, John, has amnesia and does not know anything but his name. Elliott begins to try and unravel the mystery of John's identity and murder.
Most of the book is boring descriptions of the minutiae of Elliott's show more day: he makes coffee, he gets dressed, he reads a book, he takes a nap, he calls people. These descriptions take up paragraphs!
He has an obnoxious relationship with his sister (a thoroughly one-dimensional character) purely so that he has access to a police officer, here his brother-in-law.
The story of John's alias and his link to Elliott's new relationship strains credulity. I remember barking a laugh at that part.
A cool idea to have a mystery series starring Elliott the Contractor and his side-kick John the Ghost, but the first volume managed to make this boring so I will probably pass on subsequent volumes. show less
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 22
- Members
- 757
- Popularity
- #33,605
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 29
- ISBNs
- 90
- Favorited
- 2