Genre: Mystery, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Maryann
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About The Book
How far would you be willing to go to finish the job?
Declan Hunt is having a bad week. His kidnapping case is showing little progress, his office assistant has left him on short notice, and his latest investigation has left him literally battered and bruised. But things change when he hires twenty-four year old Charlie Watts to help out at the office. They form an unlikely partnership trying to solve two seemingly unrelated cases whose threads begin to weave together when the missing person case turns to murder.
The investigation takes them from the dark alleys, gay bars and bath houses of Calgary, to the richest parts of the city during the world-famous Calgary Stampede.
But will they be able to discover who the killer is before another life is lost? And will Declan be able to solve the mystery of his relationship with Charlie who is clearly attracted to him — especially since it is evident that the attraction is becoming mutual?
The Review
Declan Hunt, of Declan Hunt Investigation, is not having a good day. He’s been beat up and tossed in a dumpster, and has nothing to show for it. Declan is thirty-five, and loves to do some drinking and bar hoping. he’s also very familiar with The Greek, a health spa and steam room/bathhouse that entertains Calgary’s gay men.
Declan’s office is in seventy year old historic building, and Mrs. B, aka Joan Beckerman, is his sixty-eight year old receptionist. She keeps the office running as best she can, and also stays calm, no matter what Declan get’s into.
When Declan returns to the office, Mrs. B knows exactly what to do. It isn’t anything she hasn’t seen or done for him before. But for Declan, it’s all just become another headache – Mrs. B is taking a vacation for three weeks. She’s on top of things, though, and has set up interviews for the Monday after she leaves.
He even had some low paying internships, but they got him nowhere. He loves his Grandmother, Elsie Watts, and feels very safe with her. They both live with his parents in Brentwood, where Charlie has a room in the basement. His best and only friend is Carrie Wallace, and she’s also his only social life. Besides Charlies life being crappy, he’s hiding a secret from his parents – he’s just not ready to tell them he’s gay.
Charlie needing a night out, he and Carrie hit a few bars, winding up at Bar-None. When Carrie heads out, Charlie sticks around and talks with Mickey the bartender. As he’s sharing his woes, he gets an email. He’s got a real job interview and is immediately hired by Declan.
Charlie joins Declan’s team, and right off the bat he finds himself in the midst of a kidnap case. He really proves himself with the investigations. Then along comes Detective Luke Fraser, who Declan falls for pretty fast, but Charlie is very suspicious of him. Will Charlie stick with the job, even with hurt feelings and growing pains?
Mann Hunt is the first story I’ve read by Peter E. Fenton and I really enjoyed it – it’s well written, easy to follow and flows well. It’s also suspenseful and dangerous, with fast-paced action, snarky humor, a ton of emotions, a bit of steam and a bit in the romance department too. Along with a surprise twist there’s danger, greed, corruption, deceit, secrets and homophobia.
The investigation process that Cjarlie runs is really interesting – he knows how to bring it all together. As a young man, he uses his smarts and figures things out before jumping to conclusions. He really tries to stay professional with Declan, no matter how his feelings are affected, and his personality draws people to him – being friendly, polite and caring really pays off. I also like the decisions he makes that reflect his growing maturity.
Declan Hunt took me a while to get used to. I’m not against drinking, but he goes a little overboard. I can understand why – he didn’t have a good upbringing and he was bullied a lot, and it had a lasting affect on him. He fell for Luke Fraser a little to quickly, and he should have been more suspicious. He also seemed to spend too much time away from the job engaged in sexual exploits, while Charlie seemed to do most of the investigating, taking advantage of Charlie. Charlie could teach him a lot, especially when it comes to IT.
I liked that women got recognition and important roles in the story Mrs. B, Declan’s assistant; Elsie Watt, Charlies grandmother; and Gwen, bakery owner, landlord and stepmother to Declan.
I highly recommend Mann Hunt, the first story in the “Declan Hunt Mysteries” – this new trilogy has a lot of high potential. I love a good mystery, so I’m all in – I can’t wait to see what Fenton has planned for Declan and Charlie next.
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.
