Fatal Shadows
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15
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Average rating4
When a bookstore owner is accused of murdering his ex-lover, proving his innocence might lead a hard-nosed detective to a fatal attraction… Thirty-five-year-old gay bookseller Adrien English searches for love between the pages. As a sensitive intellectual with a heart condition, his dating life is gathering dust on the shelves. But when police name him the prime suspect in the brutal murder of his friend and employee, Adrien doesn't expect his best hope for romance to be assigned to the case… Detective Jake Riordan is hungry to climb the ranks. All he has to do for a promotion is nail the handsome bookstore owner for an obvious crime of passion. If only he could stop fantasizing about the suspect instead of the "normal" wife and family his career demands… As Riordan’s investigation heats up and the suspect insists on his innocence, the detective doubts both Adrien's guilt and his ability to resist the man's understated charms. Can they turn the crime into passion, or will a killer on the loose write The End?
Series
5 primary books6 released booksThe Adrien English Mysteries is a 6-book series with 5 primary works first released in 2000 with contributions by Josh Lanyon.
Reviews with the most likes.
I've had this series in my sights seemingly forever and always kept postponing it because on a cellular level I knew that I was going to fall hard. How could I not?
Adrien English lives in modern day Los Angeles but could very well be a refugee from Raymond Chandler's time. There's murder, danger, the past which is never just the past and L.A.'s finest who are not always so fine and in this instance come in the form of Det. Chan and Det. Riordan the latter a mystery unto himself.
I should point out that this first installment is in fact not a romance, not in any traditional sense, and yet it is a foundational piece for what could be fingers crossed a great, life spanning romance.The mystery itself isn't too complex, especially if you've been an avid reader of the genre. The draw here is the world Adrien inhabits, populated by quirky and distinct individuals like Claude La Pierra, Adrien's mother Lisa and of course Adrien himself.
I love his dry sense of humor, the way he sees the world and his relationship to it. Adrien is a fully human character: curious, afraid, daring, flawed. Even when not a spoiler this is a murder mystery after all he comes face to face with the killer he remains a full fledged man. He fears for himself and yet he feels pity for the murderer, for what has brought him to this pass.
I had just cause to wait before jumping into this series because now I'm all in!!! On the plus side I think it may be complete and I won't have to be bitting my nails waiting. I'm eager to see how the relationship between Adrien and Riordan pans out. I'm hoping that it continues as untraditional as this first installment promises. there wasn't even a kiss in this one!
I added the audio via the Whispersync option and though the quality of the recording sometimes varied the performance by Chris Patton is fantastic. Every character's voice is precise and distinct and pitch perfect, even the voices for the women which can be harder for a male narrator.
