Jon's Spooky Corpse Conundrum

Still loving Donavan and Jon and all the side characters. So glad they interduced Caleb. Jon now has his family back.

The main characters in this series are portrayed distinctively. They emphasize dialogue and working through their differences. When it comes to relationships, all too many M/M authors appear to undervalue believability, even in fiction. Too many M/M books verge on the harlequin, with simple, cookie-cutter narratives that appear to be filler to bring the reader to “the feelings” and the happy ending.\r\n\r\nThe books in this series are full of “feel-good” moments throughout, not just at the happy ending. And it’s done without the reader feeling “talked down to,” or taken for granted. Some people, (particularly those people NOT raised in a comfortable middle class, mid-western home like I was) may find being surrounded by so many well meaning, likable people like we are in this book a bit too sweet. However, I believe the author does a good job of breaking through that sweetness with an intriguing mystery.\r\n\r\nWhile this book has the standard “whodunnit” aspects to them, the villains aren’t simple two dimensional constructs. Because of Jon’s ability to see the emotions that underpin the culprit’s behavior, the author gives us a more understanding perspective of the culprit’s behavior. People in real life are very rarely entirely “evil.” They can be venal and selfish and insufficiently mindful of others, but there is generally some justification (at least in their own eyes) for what they do. Here that justification is brought to the front. It’s kind of nice to see that in fictional characters.\r\n\r\nLloyd Thomas returns to narrate, but he doesn’t seem to be working as hard as he did in the previous books. The book was told from the alternating perspectives of Dominic and Jon, but several times Thomas sometimes “slipped” and used the wrong voice for a time. It wasn’t too often, and never lasted for an entire chapter, but more than once I thought… “That section should have been re-recorded.” There were also a number silly “voice typos” as well. One can misspeak and say “amiable” when they mean “amenable” and a few of those may slip through. However, when one is narrating a police drama style book, pronouncing “arraignment” as “arrangement” is just bit slip-shod.\r\n\r\nThat said, This is still a title that I’ve added to my wish list as I’ll undoubtedly re-listen to this one periodically.