Review: Deep as the Ocean – C.J. Baty

Deep As The Ocean - C.J. Baty - The Pinkerton Man Series

Genre: Historical, Mystery

LGBTQ+ Category: Gay

Reviewer: Linda, Paranormal Romance Guild

Get It On Amazon

About The Book

What started as a vacation for Stiles Long, Michael O’Leary, and Lizzie Ferguson, soon turns to murder?

Aboard the ocean liner, the Mauretania, every luxury is at their fingertips. Sumptuous food, comfortable staterooms, dancing, card games, and anything else your first class heart can expire too. What the trio did not expect was a face from a past assignment to follow them on their cruise.

James Stark was the lowest of men. A blackmailer with a heart of ice. But who hated him enough to kill him? The list of suspects all circle around the same dining room table, including Stiles, Michael, and Lizzie.

They have less than two days before they dock in Liverpool to find the killer. If they don’t, he’ll walk off the boat Scott-free.

Nights of romance, declaring love, dancing in the ballroom, playing cards, a storm that nearly takes the life of one of our trio, and a murderer among them, all makes for an adventure on the deep sea.

This is the continuing adventures of the Pinkerton Man Series.

The Review

Another adventure with my favorite Pinkerton agents – Stiles Long, Michael O’Leary and Lizzie Ferguson. The three are leaving New York and heading to Liverpool for vacation on the ocean liner Mauretania, the sister ship of the Lusitania. Lizzie and Stiles have a suite – two bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room – which they are sharing as sister and brother. Michael has an attached single room so that Michael and Stiles do not reveal that they are lovers.

Winston Aldridge is their cabin steward and will be responsible for their comfort. Their breakfast will be brought to them, and to keep up the “brother-sister” pretense, Stiles has to make sure to always return to the suite in time. Unfortunately, this is the day and age being gay could mean going to jail, and being in the closet is a secret that must not be revealed.

Dinner is when the three of them meet other passengers. Their table consists of a doctor, his wife and two daughters, two brothers, Lord and Lady Halcroft, Alistair Corbyn from Scotland Yard, Lady Fernsbey and her ward Ducky. The last man to take a seat is James Stark, a man known to Lizzie, Stiles and Michael, and apparently all the others at the table. Someone who destroys lives – everyone has been affected adversely by him.

Even Lizzie, Stiles and Michael are not immune to his blackmail. He apparently has pictures of Stiles and Michael that could reveal the secret they’ve worked so hard to keep.

When Stark is found dead, there’s no shortage of suspects and our guys are determined to find the guilty party before they land in Liverpool. Of course, my money is on them, and I won’t share anything here that will reveal who it is.

I love this series and highly recommend it. It has great characters, there’s always a mystery to solve, and Baty takes a deep look at what faces those who don’t conform with society’s views on who to love.

Five stars.

The Reviewer

I am an avid reader the mother of 3 sons and grandmother to seven grandchildren. Since retiring I have been doing more reading while volunteering as a CASA worker. CASA is an organization that works with the family court system to ensure that children are in the best living situation. There are way too many children that get overlooked in the foster care system and I visit homes and make visits to the parents. I was born and raised in New York and my husband of 50 years and I live in Upstate New York.

The Paranormal Romance Guild was established in 2009 by 8 Indie Authors and one Reviewer to be a constant help for authors. You can be a free author member, submitting your work for review OR become a Premium Author Member for a small yearly fee and enjoy many extra services including Free Beta Reads, Author Giveaways and many others. Your reviews are posted on our 3 FB Sites, Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter and Instagram. WE REVIEW ALL GENRES LGBTQ+ welcome.

Check out our website: https://www.paranormalromanceguild.com/

FB: https://www.paranormalromanceguild.com/

U Might Have Missed

Word Count: Click here to reveal90000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay, Lesbian (Click here to hide)

Summary: Lucian “Lucky” Spark leads a double life. By day, he trains to become one of the Establishment elite. At night, he sabotages his oppressors from within, seeking to avenge the murder of his love, Digory Tycho, and rescue his imprisoned brother. But when he embarks on a risky plot to assassinate members of the Establishment hierarchy, Lucky is thrust into the war between the Establishment and the rebellion, where the lines between friend and foe are blurred beyond recognition. His only chance for survival lies in facing the secrets of the Sowing, a mystery rooted in the ashes of the apocalyptic past that threatens to destroy Lucky’s last hope for the future.

Check This Out Too

Word Count: Click here to reveal41147 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: When you reach the edge, you can't avoid taking a leap of faith. Joe Dexter leads a complicated life. In one world he is a consultant criminal psychologist—in another he runs The Edge, a successful corporate training company. He's also an active Dom in the London BDSM scene. A social call to The Underground, a club owned by an old friend, turns into much more when Joe is introduced to a prospective sub. Falling hard for the boy's tumbling blonde curls, huge blue eyes and desperate need for protection, Joe carefully coaxes him out of his shell. By the end of an intense weekend, unbreakable bonds have been forged and Joe is well on the way to becoming Olly's Master. Joe knows that there is trauma in Olly's past, but it is not until his professional and private lives collide that Joe discovers the truth. He knows he shouldn't have let Olly out of his sight but it's too late—Olly's old Master is back on the scene and he's not in the mood to forgive and forget. With Olly's life on the line, Joe risks everything to save him. Has Joe found his perfect submissive only to lose him in a horrible twist of fate, or will love win the day? They've reached the edge and there's no avoiding a leap of faith. Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of D/s, including chastity play, and references to past rape and current PTSD. There are also non-consensual plot elements with an aggressive former Master which include kidnapping, bondage and the forcible insertion of a butt plug.