Guest Review: Leather Head by Matt Converse

Gable is just playing dress up for San Francisco's leather S&M fair, but Leather Head isn't playing. His friend Shawn warns him to be careful what he's advertising for since the community has been rocked by four brutal murders. Gable still thinks it's all in fun, but it isn't. Desire can be deadly.

Guest Reviewer - NeRdyWYRM

Dark and Clever

I enjoyed this twisted little short quite a bit. I thought the author found a very clever way of smooshing a lot of story into a small package. Maybe it’s been done before, maybe not, I dunno. But I liked the bits of the past interspersed in one ‘whole-book’ scene from the present. It made it feel like way more story than was actually there. This also highlighted one bone of contention for me, though, that being: there was enough meat on the bones of this plot for it to have been a full-length book. I wondered why the author didn’t go that route, but the short was good as is so … I’ll have to remain satisfied with the niblets.

Leather Head was a slightly over-the-top villain in short-story form. I think he could have been truly diabolical with more page time. In this case, his actions had to speak for him, thus, The Bone of Contention. We did get a little bit of his voice, but I wanted in his freaky-ass Leather Head. I know I’m being a little wishy-washy on this one because I keep whining (indirectly) about the length. Don’t get me wrong, this was an excellent short because it left me wanting more. The fact that it had potential to be an even better full-length book speaks volumes.

If you want a dark and dirty quickie, this is the one for you.

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An ARC copy of this title was provided for an honest review.

Review: Tramps and Thieves (Murder and Mayhem #2) by Rhys Ford

Whoever said blood was thicker than water never stood in a pool of it.

Retiring from stealing priceless treasures seemed like a surefire way for Rook Stevens to stay on the right side of the law. The only cop in his life should have been his probably-boyfriend, Los Angeles Detective Dante Montoya, but that’s not how life—his life—is turning out. Instead, Rook ends up not only standing in a puddle of his cousin Harold’s blood but also being accused of Harold’s murder…and sleeping with Harold’s wife.

For Dante, loving the former thief means his once-normal life is now a sea of chaos, especially since Rook seems incapable of staying out of trouble—or keeping trouble from following him home. When Rook is tagged as a murder suspect by a narrow-focused West L.A. detective, Dante steps in to pull his lover out of the quagmire Rook’s landed in.

When the complicated investigation twists around on them, the dead begin to stack up, forcing the lovers to work together. Time isn’t on their side, and if they don’t find the killer before another murder, Dante will be visiting Rook in his prison cell—or at his grave.

This is the type of Rhys Ford novel that I like best! She writes good cop/bad boy novels so well and I loved Dante and Rook. I have a feeling the murder and Mayhem series is going to be one of my favourites!

Writing a retired cat-burglar is a great premise for a character, especially when he falls for a cop. The dynamic between these two is soooo good, the whole tough-cop,matched to emotionally damaged partner works really well. It may not be the only story of its type - but it stands out because it is done so well. There is a reason why this type of book is popular! Yeah, it's hot. Of course it is, we all love a bit of love and if that love comes with a side of heat it's sometimes even better. Like here. H-O-T. Hot. 

Dante and Rook headline a book full of twists and turns, and Rhys Ford kept me guessing who and why throughout the story. I'm not the quickest of wits but I thought the plot twists worked well and I was kept guessing - sometimes it's obvious who and why, but not so much here. Well, not to me at least!

This novel is backed up with a cast of fantastic secondary characters (Uncle Manny is a definite favourite of mine) and I just kept wanting to read more... it's one of those books where I really wish the series was complete so I could scoff the whole lot in one go! Devouring series in one hit is a weakness of mine... I love getting to know characters through the long haul of a series rather than just one novel, and I think Rhys Ford is an author who works best over a series. This story is utterly complete in itself, no nasty cliff-hangers, but it finishes with just enough mystery to make one want to read the next in the series!

I think Rhys Ford fans will love this book, as will fans of detective novels and murder/mysteries and I definitely recommend it!

A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.