Offbeat Crimes, #1
Angel Martinez
Pride Publishing, Aug 2016
Kindle, 112 Pages
Only in Digital format
Genre(s) Cozy Mystery, LBGT Romance
Source purchased at current price
Other books in this series
The Pill Bugs of Time #2, Skim Blood and Savage Verse #3, Feral Dust Bunnies #4, Jackalopes and Woofen-Poofs #5
My Disclaimer:
I purchased a copy of this book at the current price. I am voluntarily providing an honest review in which all opinions are fully my own. I am not being compensated in any way.
~ Judi E. Easley for Blue Cat Review
What it’s about…
This is an introduction to the 77th Precinct. All the other police areas are called Districts, but the 77th is a precinct. That’s not the only difference. The 77th is made up of officers and detectives who all have misfunctioning magical powers. And they’re all just a little bit touchy about it at times, especially Vance Virago the firestarter. If the coffee pot is empty, don’t say a word. Larry takes care of it and his feelings really get hurt if anyone else interferes. Larry’s the ghost of a cop. The LT in charge of the precinct is usually pretty cool about things. She’s the anti-priestess of an elder god. It’s only a problem if you need her when she’s making an offering to the god.
Kyle Monroe is just starting to feel a part of the precinct since his transfer following a run-in with a gelatinous cloud that changed his magical make-up. Now to throw him off balance is new boy-on-the-block, Vikash Soren. Tall, physically perfect and reserved. And his new partner.
Can they find the chance to build a relationship and still catch the monsters?
Technical Tidbits…
The cover is pretty at first glance with that lovely silver surrounding that fabulous male figure. Then you look into that silvery cloud and you see the monsters!
The storyline is simple with a lot of embellishments along the way.
The characters are introduced to give us a baseline for the precinct in this book, the first of the series. Kyle Monroe and Vikash Soren are much more developed due to the fact that they are the two individuals involved in the relationship and with the crime. They are the main characters in this book.
The pace was pretty good. Everything seemed to move right along.
The tension dropped in on you in the first few pages and held on until the end.
This is the sort of story that requires an author with superior writing skills.
And this is where you STOP if you don’t want to see any SPOILERS...
The good, the bad, and the ugly…and how much it lit up my life… ✰✰✰✰
As usual, I came across this series at #4. So, I immediately bought and read book one so I would know the back story. Book one does an excellent job of being an introductory book. It explains the precinct and its weird characters so that you have the basis to go forward with the other stories and understand what’s going on. You’ve got a vampire that can’t drink blood from a human. He has to have some stuff from a bag. Vance can’t control his fire-starting when he gets angry. When anyone gets near Kyle he absorbs their magic and makes it enhanced in some way. With Vance’s fire-starting, he creates huge fires, and Vance always gets blamed for not being careful around Kyle!
As for the actual story, there wasn’t much to the crime part of it. There was an ugly monster-like giant turtle killing people along the river walk. Who knows why, we never got into that. Mr. Jacket (the leather jacket without a body) helped them track it down initially. Vikash was trying to save Kyle from the monster and he used his magic. Kyle enhanced it and made the monster explode. Mr. Jacket seems to be missing after everyone is released from the hospital.
The relationship was more than half the story, I think. The two men, Kyle and Vikash, do a lot of talking and teasing and then they have sex. The next time Kyle wants to get together he says he’s got beer and a movie at his place. Vikash says his cat is expecting him, bring the beer and movie to his place. Hooray for him! A man who understands you have to take care of your cat or you can’t take care of a relationship with another person. And finally, the cat doesn’t run and hide when Kyle walks in.
Overall, this looks like a quirky, fun series if you’re into or okay with sex that’s anything but vanilla. In fact, it looks like it may all be LGBT in this series. You may have to overlook a little vamp mixed in with human, or other things that go bump in the night.
Recommended.
Feral Dust Bunnies
Offbeat Crimes, #4
Angel Martinez
Pride Publishing, Jun 2017
Kindle, 169 Pages
Only in Digital format
Genre(s) Cozy Mystery, LBGT Romance
Source purchased at current price
My Disclaimer:
I purchased a copy of this book at the current price. I am voluntarily providing an honest review in which all opinions are fully my own. I am not being compensated in any way.
~ Judi E. Easley for Blue Cat Review
What it’s about…
It started with some rats that looked like mummies. Then it was a mother cat, whose one surviving kitten gets to live with Wolf. And that’s where ACO Jason Shen comes in. Jason is helping Wolf get all the things he needs for the kitten and teaching him how to take care of her. Wolf has trouble paying attention because he thinks Jason smells so good. He smells lickable, and Jason’s okay with that.
Finding the source of the evil that is attacking animals and people takes almost the whole squad this time after Vikash’s Mom is attacked at a party. Erasmus is injured by the Dust Bunny entity and Carrington is almost done in by concern for his librarian. Jeff, Amanda, Greg, Wolf, Shira, and the rest of the crew are busy beating on gray appendages until Krisk appears with his unusual solution and then asks Vance to step in to finish it up.
Now can they locate the creator’s base and destroy it before more any more dust bunnies are monsterized?
Technical Tidbits…
The cover is that beautiful light purple color surrounding another gorgeous male figure. This time in the color cloud we have the rats that end up mummified and Audacity, the kitten that gets saved.
The storyline again is two-part. The mystery is simple enough with an entity that needs to be found and destroyed. And the romance is straight-forward as well for an LGBT pairing.
The characters are fleshed out well as they take the stage in the book. The ones we already know are left as is. It’s the main characters in this story that are explained. There were a lot of the characters involved this time, too!
The pace was a bit crazy in this book. It seemed like the characters really didn’t get a chance to rest between events.
The tension stayed pretty even from beginning to end with the pitch over the scene at the party and then again when Vikash explodes the circle.
And this is where you STOP if you don’t want to see any SPOILERS…
The good, the bad, and the ugly…and how much it lit up my life… ✰✰✰✰
I loved the way Wolf’s “mother” helped him so matter-of-factly understand things like human relationships and wedding invitations. Having been a wolf then cursed into a human didn’t give him any chance to understand any of those things. She also gives him time and space to safely experience such things. He has no siblings, and it’s so nice that Jason is willing to share his with him. He remembers wolf siblings and he’s sad. But it’s a bit different having human siblings. And Krisk, his partner is very patient with the gaps in his understanding and helps him when he can.
I find this whole group of misfits rather endearing. I’ve now read book one and book four. I’m going to go back and read books two and three and probably five. I may or may not review them. I’m reading them for myself and I don’t always review my own reading. I just want to catch up on the rest of the group.
Recommended.
1426 wc
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