KJ Charles

Gooooothic fun

From the very first page, I knew it was going to be quite a ride. A gothic ride.

Zeb Wyckham has come to Lackaday House for visit, invited by a long-lost cousin. The mansion is gloomy and looks suspicious (of course it does). Also, to Zeb’s chagrin, instead of only Cousin Wynn, there are lots of other Wyckhams in the house. There is Gideon as well, Wynn’s new secretary. Gideon happens to be Zeb’s ex. Oh dear.

It turns out that Cousin Wynn has a plan – there is the matter show more of who will inherit the Lackaday House and he has invited the whole family for an ”inheritance game” of sorts. Me: this will not end well, it never does. The Wyckhams are a lovely family, as expected:

”It’s a bit much to call a man a cuckold if it was you who cuckolded him.”
”On the contrary. I can be absolutely sure that my accusation is true.”

It’s a wonder the house does not collapse from the weight of all dark family secrets and despicable things done by horrible people. This family gathering is not a huge success, as you may have guessed. People see ghosts! Obviously. Other strange things begin to happen. Obviously.

In the middle of it all we have two cinnamon rolls, aka Zab and Gideon. They are trying to figure out what is going on while figuring out their relationship. (There will be spice.) Awww.

This book is exuberant and confident in its tropes and its gothicness. This is how you go beyond tropes, making them yours, making them fun. The reader can just dive in in and enjoy the show. Sometimes I had trouble accepting how the romp, the homages and the tragic horrible things were mixed together. I could put my brain back into the gothic mode every time, though, and have a great time.

Fun quotes:

”If you’re having a religious awakening, I’m going inside.”

”…if you feel doom coming upon you, book yourself into a sanatorium.” show less

It’s nice to read something that knows it’s pulp, doesn’t pretend otherwise, revels in it, plays with it.

WWI is over, and Will Darling is trying to find his place in Britain again. Inheriting his uncle’s bookshop is a stroke of luck! (Tons of books are looming over him, but he’s been through worse.)

Then aggressive people come calling, demanding “information” from Will. What information?
“Who the hell came armed to rob a bookshop?”
The War Office is very interested in Will, show more too, in unpleasant ways. He is not handing anything over to anyone, even if he doesn’t have it, thank you very much. Enter a certain Kim Secretan, providing timely assistance (very timely), a Guinness, and a sympathetic ear. Those dark eyes are very fine too. Will, you are too stubborn and too trusting, yes you are.

The chemistry between Will and Kim is nice. The romance is steamy-steamy-steamy. (I think I like more mystery and less romance in my books, but you can’t always have everything.) But what do you say, now that you’re more than friends?
“Thank God they were British. He took a deep breath. “Cup of tea?”

Oh, what a surprise, there are more layers of intrigue and more layers of betrayal. And the “information” shouldn’t be in anyone’s hands.

The latter part of the book moves fast, with kidnappings, rescues, more double-dealing, quick thinking under pressure and conversations a reader can quote.

“I haven’t lied to you in, oh, a good twelve hours.”
“Amazing. Did it hurt much?”

“Your ability to inflict damage with words as well as knives is noted. Can we agree I behaved appallingly and get to the part where I apologise and remove myself from your presence?”

“I don’t know anyone with whom I’d rather execute an ambush in a muddy field.” Awww, that’s romantic.

The ending is promising :)

P.S. I liked the part where Will was admiring an actor named Harrison Ford. You know, the silent movie actor, born in 1884. The author must have had so much fun with this. show less

Zeb Wyckham is estranged from most of his family, who were cruel to him about his issues with attention and his gayness, but when he meets a distant cousin he actually likes he decides to visit him at his large estate in the countryside. Unfortunately the rest of his family is there as well, and Zeb’s cousin Wynn plans to make them fight over his wealth via marriage to his young ward Jessamine. Also present is Wynn’s secretary Gideon, who was once Zeb’s coworker and lover, and show more thankfully someone Zeb can actually trust. The two of them try to leave the fucked up family reunion but find they are trapped in the house, and family members start dying.

While it does have an HEA and contains a few explicit sex scenes, I would call this more of a thriller than a romance. It’s very plot-driven, creepy, and characters actually die. As usual with KJ Charles I enjoyed the relationship and the historical politics but the family and inheritance shenanigans were a bit more than I could wrap my head around. The audiobook narrator was great, though. show less

K.J. Charles' Death in the Spires offers a solid example of one of my favorite mystery sub-genres: a queer, Oxford-based mystery set in the early 1900s. It has an interesting mix of central characters: five men, two women. The men range from very wealthy children of the peerage to a scholarship student acutely aware of the many ways he doesn't meet privileged Oxford norms, and another wealthy student, this one black, who can't blend in despite his wealth. The women both attend one of the show more non-degree-granting female colleges affiliated with Oxford at that time. One is wealthy (the twin sister of one of the men); the other is not.

The narrative moves between two timelines. There's the past part of the plot: this interestingly mixed crew spending time together at Oxford until one of them is murdered. The death remains unsolved and has broken all ties among the remaining six. In the present, we learn that all of the remaining six are hounded by those obsessed with the unsolved murder. Letter writers have suggested solutionsand made accusations. For several of the six such letters have also been sent to those who have the power to quickly alter the survivors' live for the worse—employers and a fiancee to be specific.

The gay male romance at the center of the novel satisfies. It's of the X only has eyes for Z, who only has eyes for Y with a freighted sexual relationship developing between X and Z. And those who appear welcoming and those who appear condescending are not necessarily what they seem.

I am very much hoping that this will be the start of a series. I would love to spend more time with these characters—especially as their renewed present day relationships develop.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own. show less