First, I think we must acknowledge that I finished a series. In the age of reviewing books for social media, this is almost unheard of these days, and I must receive praise for the accomplishment, especially to start and finish a series in less than four months.

Second, when I reviewed Slippery Creatures back in January, I said that I would very likely rate books two and three as 5-star reads after giving book one 4.5-stars, and I was right. So go me for accurately predicting how much I would love these books.

I love these two men with my whole heart. Charles has taken the smart and sexy ingenue-meets-gruff and strong private eye plot pivotal to so many noir and detective stories and made it gay, which is what my little homo heart wants for every subgenre of every genre of media ever made. Plus, they get to have really hot sex and be really smart and wise-cracking (both during the sex and while solving crimes.) It truly breaks my heart that this is a trilogy and not an ongoing mystery series. I need more Will and Kim in my life. (Oh, and Phoebe and Maisie, too - those ladies are also phenomenal)

I also want to give Charles her credit as an author of gay male stories who is not a gay man herself. As I have been gobbling up Queer romances this year, I have also been thinking about and engaging with discourse around this trend in M/M romance and am often torn on how to feel, but Charles is so clearly in on the conversations in a way that really makes me appreciate the work she's doing. There's a whole conversation near the end of the book on how being emotionally open does not have to mean, and is not the same as, making yourself the receiving partner or the more submissive partner during sex, and this is just such a nuanced discussion of gay culture that floored me to come across in a femme-authored historical romance mystery. This intricacy of discussion that happens throughout the series really elevates the whole Will Darling adventures to a higher level of literary caliber.

Oh, plus support indie authors, right?!

Quotes
"You can't expect me to take your word for things when I could work myself into a frenzy about them instead. Where would that get us?" (p. 10)
"People say I love you to madness, but I love you to sanity, because loving you is the sanest thing I've ever done." (p. 122)