Colin Dunne:
Adrien English is attractive, successful and gay. But life changes when his boyhood friend is murdered, and Adrien becomes the prime suspect.
Soon Adrien realizes jail may be the least of his problems. First someone ransacks his shop, then the phone calls begin: “Adrien, I'm going to kill you…”
Despite a few copy-editing errors, this is a briskly paced, smoothly written first novel. The prose is crisp and clean, the narration wryly humorous. Adrien is a likable protagonist with his nervous loyalties to his nutty band of friends, most of them fellow mystery writers.
The mystery itself is slim but entertaining; the strength of the novel lies in characterization and style. Adrien is something of a smart-ass, but he manages to veer away from appearing actually obnoxious.
This is a promising debut in the sub-genre of Gay Mystery.
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