Title: Jordi’s Day
Author: Patrick Doyle
Genre: Mystery, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: MM Gay
Publisher: Self
Pages: 137
Reviewer: Maryann
Get It On Amazon
About The Book
It’s 1995 and Barcelona is a dream come true. Franco is long dead and the new dictator, mass tourism, not yet in place. Bill Jones falls in love with the city and with one of its hunky citizens.
But things turn sour when his past catches up with him. Family, duty, everything works to bring him down. Then there’s a murder and he’s the prime suspect. What follows is a story of mystery, history, seduction, and a lot of manipulation and lies.
Along the way Bill will be confronted with some hard truths about family, love and about himself. But Barcelona has seen it all before and knows how to take care of those it loves.
The Review
Patrick Doyle is a new author for me and I was very entertained with “Jordi’s Day”. He takes the reader to Barcelona in 1995 and presents a history of what life is like in this time. Doyle fascinated me with the history and the places in Barcelona. He creates this novel around Catalonia and two interesting martyrs with different situations: the ancient knight, Saint Jordi and Saint Eulalia, who was ahead of her time. Although both Saint’s are heroic Saint Jordi is the more popular.
The main character, Bill Jones has finally found his freedom in Barcelona. Through the London McQueen Language School, he acquires a job teaching English in Spain. All the newness of Barcelona is just what he needed. Along with this new life, he also just happened to find a new boyfriend Andreu Torrent.
Bill has a best friend, Joanne “Jo” Calder who co-owns a gay and lesbian bookstore. Jo’s always looking out for Bill and is somewhat protective. She is very leery of Bill’s boyfriend Andreu, but nothing can change Bill’s mind about Andreu, even though at times things don’t seem to work out.
Unfortunately, Bill’s mother, Cynthia, has come to visit. His mother is overbearing, conniving, and at times almost delusional. Sometimes Bill’s thoughts about his mother are unusual. She conspires with his brother Clyde and that just adds fuel to his mother’s antics. Bill also has to put up with a visit from his freeloading Uncle James.
Bill feels like he’s lost his freedom with his family interrupting his new life. He just wants his mother to go home before his free time from his job runs out. He wants to spend time with his boyfriend, which he hasn’t done enough of. Just by some miracle his boyfriend invites him on a trip. All seems to be going well, until his return home to tragedy that turns Bill’s world into a twisted mystery of murder.
Now, feeling like a suspect, Bill starts to investigate. Although Bill was aware of his families prejudices, by chance he learns even more disturbing and hurtful facts about them. As that is not enough his boyfriend has also turned on him.
Doyle not only fascinates the reader with a suspenseful, tricky and twisted mystery with a sprinkle of fantasy but he takes us on a colorful tour of Barcelona. His description of many places and sites bring excitement and romance to the setting. The reader is whisked away to the Sagrada Familia, Montjuic, Sant Miguel del Fai, Rambla, Barri Gotic, Placa Catalunya, Passeig de Gracia, and Placa d’Espanya, just to name a few.
With many surprises along the way, Doyle entertained and captured my interest and made “Jordi’s Day” a definite page-turner for me. I hope Patrick Doyle will continue on the path of fantasy and mystery and deliver another entertaining read.
The Reviewer
Hi, I’m Maryann, I started life in New York, moved to New Hampshire and in 1965 uprooted again to Sacramento, California. Once I retired I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida in 2011 and just moved back to Sacramento in March of 2018. My son, his wife and step-daughter flew out to Florida and we road tripped back so they got to see sights they have never seen. New Orleans and the Grand Canyon were the highlights. Now I am back on the west coast again to stay! From a young age Ialways liked to read.
I remember going to the library and reading the “Doctor Dolittle” books by Hugh Lofting. Much later on became a big fan of the classics, Edgar Alan Poe, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and as time went by Agatha Christie, Ray Bradbury and Stephen Kingand many other authors.
My first M/M shifter book I read was written by Jan Irving the “Uncommon Cowboys” series from 2012. She was the first author I ever contacted and sent an email to letting her know how much I liked this series. Sometime along the way I read “Zero to the Bone”by Jane Seville, I think just about everyone has read this book!
As it stands right now I’m really into mysteries, grit, gore and “triggers” don’t bother me. But if a blurb piques my interest I will read the book.
My kindle collection eclectic and over three thousand books and my Audible collection is slowly growing. I have both the kindle and audible apps on my ipod, ipads, and MAC. So there is never an excuse not to be listening or reading.
I joined Goodreads around 2012 and started posting reviews. One day a wonderful lady, Lisa Horan of The Novel Approach, sent me an email to see if I wanted to join her review group. Joining her site was such an eye opener. I got introduce to so many new authors that write for the LGBTQ genre. Needless to say, it was heart breaking when it ended.
But I found a really great site, QRI and it’s right here in Sacramento. Last year at QSAC I actually got to meet Scott Coatsworth, Amy Lane and Jeff Adams.
