I don't know what it is about Josh Lanyon's books and yours truly...
Most of his stories are not the "I'll forsake sleep to finish this"- kind of page turners for me. There is a mellowness to the books that keeps me from that. Also: I still wouldn't want to classify mystery as a genre I particularly like. But still: I love his books. The whodunit is interesting but what Lanyon excels at are his characters. They're deep, layered, engaging. And the angst... Love it! Major drama with a subdued quality to it.
Lanyon books just equal guaranteed good reads to me.

Snowball in Hell is one of Lanyon's darker books. The story takes place in Los Angeles during WWII and has a perfect film noir feel.
This is a murder mystery, but the mystery part is not the focus of this story. The characters are. Secrets, war, inner struggles, loneliness... In a time where homosexuality is a disease and the war -though fought in far countries- is ever present in their daily lives, you can imagine police Lieutenant Matthew Spain and journalist Nathan Doyle don't have it easy.

Engaging, sad, endearing, funny... this story had it all (4 stars)

Now, when is the sequel coming out?