Fatal Shadows is the first book in The Adrien English Mysteries series by Josh Lanyon. It was written in 2007 and published by MLR Press. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Chris Patton. It is a mystery book with a bit of MxM. Not much romance, it is more about the main character being gay. There is some with the cop of the series, Riordan but he is a homophobic gay man in the closet, and frankly is an asshole so there isn’t much of a romance.
Adrien English owns a bookshop and is one day accused of murder after his best friend Roger was killed. The handsome and homophobic detective Jake Riordan is all but ready to lock Adrien up, but as another murder happens, the case is becoming far more complicated as Adrien finds out that the murderer might have more to do with him than he first thought.
This is the second book I read by Josh Lanyon that have a main character who is owning a bookshop and is investigating a murder they are accused of committing. Though this one reached a bit with the motive. There were plenty of people who could have done it, but once again Lanyon uses the, they argued before the murder, excuse to make the police suspect the main character. Which really doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
The mystery feels more like an episode of a crime series, with stalkers and secrets from the past slowly being revealed to a final confrontation with the murderer. Its not really much of a mystery, the culprit is rather obvious. The book has a cliché style, familiar, but is not for those who wanted something new.
I thought it was fine, not the greatest mystery or crime book I have read but decent. Well written, but the plot is a bit undeveloped which is why it felt cliché, that along with me having read some of Josh Lanyon’s other book makes me see the plot points that she leans against in many of her books which doesn’t enhance the experience. I thought Murder at Pirate’s Cove were better, but it might just be because I read that one first and it is similar to this one, just with more humor. This one was darker in tone, which might interest some people but I prefer books that are bit more mixed up in tone.
Overall, it was a decent book, just not that new or developed. The characters worked well enough, the mystery was fine if not that thought through, but I though that the book was a bit lacking so I will only give it a 6 out of 10.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
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