A Dangerous Thing

Once again I managed to read a whole book while on shift at work today. I was actually re-reading the second of Josh Lanyon's books focussing on book shop owner, murder/mystery writer and amatuer sleuth Adrien English. I love the two books in this series and have been looking for the third, The Hell You Say, for absolutely ages. I know it is out there, it's just finding it. And upon researching I have just found out that there is a fourth called The Pirate King, I am aquiver with anticipation of reading the books.

Like all of my favourite authors, I find that I read Lanyon's books at a fast pace and have to chide myself into reading slower because I just do not want the books to end. Another theme seems to be that there is always a character I identify with (Adrien) and one that I would love to be my partner (Jake).

Adrien is an average guy loaded with self-doubts, and unsure how to deal with some people. so you can see why I identify with him.

Jake Riordan, his LAPD detective, bisexual, on-off love interest, is practically all I could wish for in a partner. I visualise him as a merging of the following (there are quite a few so bear with me!):-

Firstly for his size and the profession he portrays, and blond hair too I guess, Barry van Dyke (in Diagnosis Murder)

Next, John Schneider, for his manly ruggedness and the blond hair and good looks.

Also, Ken Ryker, for his size again, the manliness, his lack of communication about his emotions (Ryker isn't the most verbose of porn stars), and his penchant for S&M in the stories.

And finally he is very similar to how I envisioned the character Caramon from a book a read a couple of weeks ago, the Dragonlance Dragons trilogy (Dragons of Autumn Sunset, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning), a big "giant of a man" with broad barrel-like chest and dark hair (although Jake has blond hair).

Alternately I see Adrien and Jake as two of the characters from the Chelsea Boys comic strip / cartoon. I see Adrien as Nathan and Jake as Sky, but the previous merged image of Jake (Barry / John / Ken / Caramon) wins out in my mind every time.

The stories Lanyon writes for his Adrien English books are short, too short for my liking, but thoroughly entertaining. They have a little bit of sex in them, but he stops short of going into too much detail, leaving just enough for the imagination.

In this book, even at this early stage in his sleuthing "career", when reporting a murder to the local police Adrien is immediately compared to Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote. He is not happy with the comparison, though I'm sure as a gay male (and a fan of the murder / mystery genre) I'm sure the he wouldn't normally have minded the comparison such a gay icon as Angela Lansbury!

Check out the series and see for yourself how Lanyon explores the intracacies of an unlikely friendship and budding relationship between the two heroes of the story, and how they deal with their feelings for each other and how other people perceive them. You won't be disappointed.