Adrien English Mysteries #2
A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing
Bookseller Adrien English arrives at Pine Shadow Ranch to find a corpse in his driveway. By the time the local sheriffs arrive, the body has disappeared.
What happened to the dead man? Who are the mysterious strangers excavating on Adrien's remote property? And will he ever sort out his problems with LAPD Homicide Detective Jake Riordan?
I thought this was a good entry in the series, not quite as good as the 1st one. I had a little harder time getting into the story for the first few chapters but after that, I was hooked. Great mystery, interesting characters, at times you want to really bang Adrien and Jake's heads together. Adrien for being too stubborn to not listen to Jake and Jake because he's too afraid to fully accept who he is. But you can't help but love them. Still a very good story.
2nd Re-Read Review 2016:
I upped the rating to 5 stars with this re-read. I never added any thoughts with my re-read in 2015 but I am now. I actually found it even better than Fatal Shadows this time around. The mystery was equally as good, even knowing the outcome, as for Adrien & Jake, well I loved their interactions. Yes, they both need to have their heads knocked together but they just fit. They balance each other out, even if they have a way to go before they find true happiness.
Overall 4th Re-Read Review 2018:
I really don't know what I can say about Adrien English that I haven't already said but I'll try😉😉. On paper Adrien "with an 'e'" English and Jake Riordan shouldn't work, they not only shouldn't work they really shouldn't even be in the same city but they do work. Yes, you'll want to strangle Jake on more than one occasion but truth is he is protective and loving(okay the loving bit happens eventually but acceptance of oneself doesn't have a set timetable) he is just what Adrien needs and Adrien is exactly what Jake needs, even if their timing needs a little tweaking. The mysteries are amazing and even knowing the outcome with no surprises anymore, I am still on the edge-of-my-seat and can't-put-it-down enthralled when it comes to this series. This one has become a required annual read for me and I don't foresee a time when it won't be.
Overall Series Audiobook Review 2019:
Adrien with an "e", what can I say that I haven't already said? Nothing really because I absolutely adore Adrien and Jake. Yes, there are multiple times I want to whack Jake upside the head but he's learning, albeit slowly sometimes but still learning. There's heartbreak, there's joy, there's murder, and well there's plenty of love(even if it takes Jake a little longer to accept).
All but the final Christmas novella is narrated by Chris Patton and his voice is perfect for these two. I couldn't imagine listening to anyone else bring life to the pair but then when I listened to So This is Christmas, read by Kale Williams, he too is . . . well for the lack of a better word(and not to sound redundant😉) . . . brilliant. Obviously there is a difference between the two narrators but since Adrien and Jake are settled, or as settled as they can be considering Adrien's knack for stumbling into mayhem, which changes people and so the difference in narrators kind of reflects that I thought. So I say spot on to all involved bringing Adrien English and Jake Riordan to life.
RATING:
Josh Lanyon
I upped the rating to 5 stars with this re-read. I never added any thoughts with my re-read in 2015 but I am now. I actually found it even better than Fatal Shadows this time around. The mystery was equally as good, even knowing the outcome, as for Adrien & Jake, well I loved their interactions. Yes, they both need to have their heads knocked together but they just fit. They balance each other out, even if they have a way to go before they find true happiness.
I really don't know what I can say about Adrien English that I haven't already said but I'll try😉😉. On paper Adrien "with an 'e'" English and Jake Riordan shouldn't work, they not only shouldn't work they really shouldn't even be in the same city but they do work. Yes, you'll want to strangle Jake on more than one occasion but truth is he is protective and loving(okay the loving bit happens eventually but acceptance of oneself doesn't have a set timetable) he is just what Adrien needs and Adrien is exactly what Jake needs, even if their timing needs a little tweaking. The mysteries are amazing and even knowing the outcome with no surprises anymore, I am still on the edge-of-my-seat and can't-put-it-down enthralled when it comes to this series. This one has become a required annual read for me and I don't foresee a time when it won't be.
Adrien with an "e", what can I say that I haven't already said? Nothing really because I absolutely adore Adrien and Jake. Yes, there are multiple times I want to whack Jake upside the head but he's learning, albeit slowly sometimes but still learning. There's heartbreak, there's joy, there's murder, and well there's plenty of love(even if it takes Jake a little longer to accept).
All but the final Christmas novella is narrated by Chris Patton and his voice is perfect for these two. I couldn't imagine listening to anyone else bring life to the pair but then when I listened to So This is Christmas, read by Kale Williams, he too is . . . well for the lack of a better word(and not to sound redundant😉) . . . brilliant. Obviously there is a difference between the two narrators but since Adrien and Jake are settled, or as settled as they can be considering Adrien's knack for stumbling into mayhem, which changes people and so the difference in narrators kind of reflects that I thought. So I say spot on to all involved bringing Adrien English and Jake Riordan to life.
RATING:
Fast approaching the stage of exhaustion where I wasn’t sure if I was still driving or if I was only dreaming I was still driving, I nearly missed the turn off. The next ten miles were a challenge to the Bronco’s shocks as well as my own, but at last I recognized the landmark of Saddleback Mountain and knew the Pine Shadow Ranch lay right around the next bend.
I downshifted as we began our descent. The Bronco rattled across a cattle guard. Ahead, the ranch lay motionless in the bright moonlight; from a distance it seemed untouched by time. Despite the dark windows and empty corrals I could almost convince myself that I was coming home, that someone waited to welcome me.
Drawing closer, I discerned the sign mounted on wooden posts above the open gate. Wood-burned letters had once spelled out, Pine Shadow Ranch. I slowed; the Bronco’s high beams picked out a number of forms in the darkness: the ramshackle barn behind the house, a tilting windmill, a fractured swing dangling from one of the trees — and something on the ground.
I braked. I was so wired I was willing to believe my eyes were playing tricks, but as I waited there, the Bronco’s engine idling, the thing on the ground showed no sign of disappearing.
Too tired to be cautious, I climbed out of the Bronco. It was no trick of light, no play of shadows. A man lay face down in the dirt.
I circled him, my footsteps unnaturally loud in the clear night. From across the yard I could hear a broken shutter banging. Wind rustled the tall winter grass. I knelt beside him.
I could see in the headlights that his face was turned to the side. His eyes were wide open, but he wasn’t alive. His breath didn’t cloud the raw air, his shoulders didn’t rise and fall. There was a neat hole the size of a quarter between his shoulder blades.
I sucked in my breath. This wasn’t my first contact with murder, but I still got that sensation of watching from a separate solar system — which usually precedes passing out cold. I rubbed my hand across my face. It was like one of those party games where you have thirty seconds to memorize a dozen objects; inevitably you see details instead of the big picture.
The dead man looked to be in his sixties maybe. His hair was thin, plastered to his head. He was grizzled, his fingernails were dirty. He wore faded jeans, a plaid flannel shirt and cowboy boots. I had never seen him before, or if I had I didn’t recognize him.
Reaching out to touch his wrist, a shock rippled through me like I had not been properly grounded.
He was still warm.
I jerked my head up and stared at the silent house. I looked to the surrounding hills, the sentinel trees.
The wind whispered in the pines. Otherwise nothing moved. All was still. In fact … too still.
Staring into the windswept darkness I became convinced someone was out there watching me. The hair prickled at the nape of my neck. My heart began to give my ribs the old one-two; a left and a right and then a left left left.
I don’t have time for this, I warned my uncooperative ticker as I slammed back into the Bronco. Reversing in a wide arc, I put pedal to the metal, bumping and banging down the pot hole-riddled road racing back the way I had come.
Josh LanyonBestselling author of over sixty titles of classic Male/Male fiction featuring twisty mystery, kickass adventure and unapologetic man-on-man romance, JOSH LANYON has been called "the Agatha Christie of gay mystery."
Her work has been translated into eleven languages. The FBI thriller Fair Game was the first male/male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, the largest romance publisher in Italy. Stranger on the Shore (Harper Collins Italia) was the first M/M title to be published in print. In 2016 Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan's annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place on the list).
The Adrien English Series was awarded All Time Favorite Male Male Couple in the 2nd Annual contest held by the Goodreads M/M Group (which has over 22,000 members). Josh is an Eppie Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for Gay Mystery, and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads Favorite M/M Author Lifetime Achievement award.
Josh is married and they live in Southern California.Her work has been translated into eleven languages. The FBI thriller Fair Game was the first male/male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, the largest romance publisher in Italy. Stranger on the Shore (Harper Collins Italia) was the first M/M title to be published in print. In 2016 Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan's annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place on the list).
The Adrien English Series was awarded All Time Favorite Male Male Couple in the 2nd Annual contest held by the Goodreads M/M Group (which has over 22,000 members). Josh is an Eppie Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for Gay Mystery, and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads Favorite M/M Author Lifetime Achievement award.
EMAIL: josh.lanyon@sbcglobal.net
A Dangerous Thing #2
Series
