Death of a Pirate King by Josh Lanyon

3.5 STARS

Adrien English Mysteries - Book 4
This fourth volume of Adrien English mysteries keeps up the tradition of the other three. It's two years after the previous book and there's a good mystery, terrific characters and a couple of interesting and important side plots. There's Adrien's mom, his step-sisters, his step father and there's Guy and yes... there's Jake. *sigh*

I cannot begin to tell you the antipathy I feel towards Jake. I don't want him with Adrien and I don't believe he's good for Adrien and I detest the way he talks and treats Adrien. I find myself wanting to shake the hell out of Adrien every time he gets personal with freakin' Jake. I understand conflict and disagreements and somehow insurmountable hurdles in a relationship, but in my mind, there's no reason for Jake to be so mean and nasty.

While Adrien runs his bookstore and plays with his writing endeavours and worries about his health, he does his amateur sleuthing at the behest of one of the main characters, much to the - of course - dismay, obnoxious and unpleasant dismay of Jake who is now a police lieutenant. The murder involves the movie community and the glitterati this time and wasn't quite as important to the narrative as a whole as were Adrien's reactions to the major players in his own life. Had the balance been tipped a little more the other way, I think I'd have rated this a full 4 stars.

I would really like to see more of Adrien with his mom, Lisa, and with his youngest step-sister, Emma. I like the energy that they bring to their scenes, which are always among my favourites.

So yep, another good read from Josh Lanyon and the series remains among my faves and easily recommendable. :)

The Hell You Say by Josh Lanyon

4 STARS

Adrien English Mysteries - Book 3

This is the third book in the Adrien English series and I enjoyed it as much as the first two. The mystery was sufficiently mysterious and puzzling, the characters were very good - and bad, and the sexytimes were interesting, integral to the over arcing story of Adrien's life.

I really enjoy Adrien's voice. There's a bit of sarcasm and cynicism there, as well as humour and warmth. And he has a lovely sense of the ridiculous. He's smart - too smart for his own good, probably, but it's a mystery series so he sort of has to be. :) He has a blind spot... well, okay.. maybe not an actual blind spot, but a weakness for the police detective Jake the Jerk who, as far as I'm concerned is the biggest tool in the shed.

So in this mystery, we have satanism, demons, pentacles, Wiccans, possible human sacrifices and all that these entail. We have blind alleys and red herrings that work quite well, in my opinion. I wasn't certain who the good guys were until quite near the end. I know what I WANTED to believe, but couldn't quite bring myself to. It did kind of feel like the wrap-up was a bit rushed, but that might be my own penchant for details. Every day details.

The subplot of Adrien's mother's engagement was fun and added to the mystery when it needed to. I enjoyed the new characters and am looking forward to seeing more of them in the next book. Yes, this is a series that I will definitely be continuing and recommending to those that enjoy a good mystery with a dash of sexy romance.

A Dangerous Thing by Josh Lanyon

3.5 STARS

Adrien English Mysteries - Book 2

This is the second of the Adrien English mysteries and was just as enjoyable as the first.

I really like the character of Adrien, I like his voice, his inner musings, his sense of humour and his intelligence. I like that he has flaws and acknowledges them. I like that he's not perfect.

As for his erstwhile paramour, Jake... well... I disliked him a lot in this book. I hated the way he treated Adrien for the most part and I hated his snarky attitude. I had a very hard time seeing what Adrien sees in him aside from the outer package. I wanted to smack him all through the book.

The mystery was good. Interesting and kept me guessing all the way through. I do like the way little bits get solved and new questions get raised and for the most part, the whole thing hung together rather well. At least I didn't know the guilty party before the end of chapter three! *LOL*

So yep, a good mystery read!

Fatal Shadows by Josh Lanyon

4.5 STARS

Adrien English Mysteries - Book 1

I do enjoy a good mystery and this one didn't disappoint. This wasn't the first Josh Lanyon work that I've enjoyed but I think it is the one that settles me firmly on the Lanyon bandwagon.

It's not a romance. It's a mystery with a sort of romantic subplot.

Adrien (with an 'e') English is the owner of a used bookstore and an about to be published mystery author. His high school friend is murdered and the adventure begins.

I liked Adrien a lot. He's not perfect, he has flaws, but they are flaws I can relate to. He has moments of uncertainty and confusion. He can be a bit of a smartass at times. And he has bitchy moments. And he basically has my dream job - second hand bookstore and writer. *LOL*

The other characters were nicely formed and those that needed fleshing out were fleshed out. There are a couple of weird ones and I'm looking forward to learning more about them further into the series. I do lament the killing-off of one of them and up until the scene where it happened, I had no idea it was coming.

The mystery was pretty good - it kept me wondering until the last couple of chapters. It really could have gone either way in my mind. And it did keep me turning the pages to find out what was going on - and isn't that the hallmark of a good mystery?

I really enjoy Josh Lanyon's voice too. I like how he writes, the way he puts stuff together, the balance between action, dialogue and exposition and just the overall rhythm of his books. He's good. :)

So I'm a fan. Adrien English has stolen my heart a little bit and I'm looking forward to reading about his next adventure and seeing where that ending - which by the way, was perfect in it's open-endedness - takes us!