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Deception
Arty's life is perfect. Honestly. Well, maybe slightly less than perfect when it comes to romance. For too long, she has hidden behind her career, but then a chance meeting with Lil forces her to confront what she's been too cowardly to admit. Taking Lil's advice, she walks away from the job she hates and ends up working in her new friend's coffee shop.
As she gets drawn into a life full of vibrant people, she realises just how much she has been missing, but her new found happiness is soon thrown into turmoil when one of them is brutally murdered. Feeling a desperate need to get justice, Arty begins her own investigation into her death, an action that keeps bringing her into contact with Detective Ellen Morris. Arty's search for the killer brings with it a considerable amount of danger, both to her life and her heart.
As she gets drawn into a life full of vibrant people, she realises just how much she has been missing, but her new found happiness is soon thrown into turmoil when one of them is brutally murdered. Feeling a desperate need to get justice, Arty begins her own investigation into her death, an action that keeps bringing her into contact with Detective Ellen Morris. Arty's search for the killer brings with it a considerable amount of danger, both to her life and her heart.
263 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 31, 2019
71 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 28, 2022
3.5⭐️
June 19, 2020
It is rare that a 4-chapter sample of a novel can make me hanker to read the rest, but that is what Deception did. In fact, after I purchased the book I went back and read those chapters again and liked it even better. One of the reasons I was hooked was because the main character, Arty Wilson, had not only not realized that she was gay, but she was brand new to sexuality. She was an attractive, intelligent, and successful woman who had never even been kissed. And when someone finally does plant a good one on her, she is too drunk to remember it! And despite the fact that I kind of enjoyed reading the entire novel, my enjoyment comes with a ton of caveats.
First of all, although the author, Stella Grey, is English, Deception is set in Seattle with an all-American cast. Okay, that’s fine. There is no rule that an author has to set her novels in her own country. Grey also uses British spelling (tyre, centre, etc.), which can almost be forgiven because many of her readers will probably be British. But she also has her characters speak in Britishisms: “Bloody hell!” “go missing,” “straightaway,” “no worries,” and on and on: phrases most Americans would not use. Only the author knows why she set the book in the U.S. in the first place. Surely any fairly large city in Great Britain would have done as well.
Too, the entire plot of the book is based on a coincidence so unlikely as to make it a fatal flaw. I.e., after said drunken kiss, Arty flees (in an incredibly rude and hurtful manner) the kisser, who is a secretary in her office. Arty drives blindly until she sees a coffee shop and stops in. It’s okay that the owner is a lesbian and that she soothes Arty and convinces her not only is it okay to accept her feelings for women, but to quit her job as well. Way borderline, but still within our belief suspension threshold. But when thiis new friend, Lil, turns out to be the secretary’s best friend, well, that’s way too much. Anyone who is not a review-monster like I am would be forgiven for closing the book and going on to something else.
The truth is, the book is filled with these kinds of flaws—flaws that would take a good editor quite a while to point out and that even a review-monster does not have time for. Other than the Britishisms, I had little problem with the dialogue, although it got a bit cheesy here and there. The internal monologues are less successfl. It seems that everything that Arty’s girlfriend (when she finally gets one) says or does is internally dissected: “She took a breath, knowing that Ellen was being completely genuine with her.” “Ellen had been right to s top them.” It gets tiring having to read Arty—and Ellen’s almost constant internal commentary. This can be dome more effectively in conversation.
Then there is the endless crying and hugging, one generally following the other. And lifting strands of hair from the faces of others to tuck behind their ears. And punching and swatting at each other. And as you might guess, Grey fails the “grin” test, using the word 72 times in a normal-sized novel. That good editor I refered to above would have deleted or changed at least 65 of these. And 15 of the 17 times Grey uses “chuckle.” And “groan”? Don’t ask.
Most of the plot, the solution, and the denouement, although kind of intriguing, made little sense, but there’s no point in going into these in any detail, because fixing them would require a lot of work. I have, however, marked a few dozen typos and things of that nature and would be glad to give them to the author upon request.
On the bright side, most of the characters were pretty interesting and Arty and Ellen had good backstories. The single sex scene was particularly well done—certainly the best writing in the book. And as I said in the first paragraph, I generally found myself enjoying what was going on, despite the awkward way in which it was written. Perhaps the author’s second book will benefit from what she learned from writing the first.
Final Rating: 2.5
Note: I read the ebook version of this novel that was available in May of 2020.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
First of all, although the author, Stella Grey, is English, Deception is set in Seattle with an all-American cast. Okay, that’s fine. There is no rule that an author has to set her novels in her own country. Grey also uses British spelling (tyre, centre, etc.), which can almost be forgiven because many of her readers will probably be British. But she also has her characters speak in Britishisms: “Bloody hell!” “go missing,” “straightaway,” “no worries,” and on and on: phrases most Americans would not use. Only the author knows why she set the book in the U.S. in the first place. Surely any fairly large city in Great Britain would have done as well.
Too, the entire plot of the book is based on a coincidence so unlikely as to make it a fatal flaw. I.e., after said drunken kiss, Arty flees (in an incredibly rude and hurtful manner) the kisser, who is a secretary in her office. Arty drives blindly until she sees a coffee shop and stops in. It’s okay that the owner is a lesbian and that she soothes Arty and convinces her not only is it okay to accept her feelings for women, but to quit her job as well. Way borderline, but still within our belief suspension threshold. But when thiis new friend, Lil, turns out to be the secretary’s best friend, well, that’s way too much. Anyone who is not a review-monster like I am would be forgiven for closing the book and going on to something else.
The truth is, the book is filled with these kinds of flaws—flaws that would take a good editor quite a while to point out and that even a review-monster does not have time for. Other than the Britishisms, I had little problem with the dialogue, although it got a bit cheesy here and there. The internal monologues are less successfl. It seems that everything that Arty’s girlfriend (when she finally gets one) says or does is internally dissected: “She took a breath, knowing that Ellen was being completely genuine with her.” “Ellen had been right to s top them.” It gets tiring having to read Arty—and Ellen’s almost constant internal commentary. This can be dome more effectively in conversation.
Then there is the endless crying and hugging, one generally following the other. And lifting strands of hair from the faces of others to tuck behind their ears. And punching and swatting at each other. And as you might guess, Grey fails the “grin” test, using the word 72 times in a normal-sized novel. That good editor I refered to above would have deleted or changed at least 65 of these. And 15 of the 17 times Grey uses “chuckle.” And “groan”? Don’t ask.
Most of the plot, the solution, and the denouement, although kind of intriguing, made little sense, but there’s no point in going into these in any detail, because fixing them would require a lot of work. I have, however, marked a few dozen typos and things of that nature and would be glad to give them to the author upon request.
On the bright side, most of the characters were pretty interesting and Arty and Ellen had good backstories. The single sex scene was particularly well done—certainly the best writing in the book. And as I said in the first paragraph, I generally found myself enjoying what was going on, despite the awkward way in which it was written. Perhaps the author’s second book will benefit from what she learned from writing the first.
Final Rating: 2.5
Note: I read the ebook version of this novel that was available in May of 2020.
Another Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 930 other lesbian mysteries by over 310 authors.
May 30, 2021
Good book!
Good storyline.. Some parts went on and on but overall.. Very well written. Hopefully there will be a continuation of the other ladies relationships.
Good storyline.. Some parts went on and on but overall.. Very well written. Hopefully there will be a continuation of the other ladies relationships.
July 21, 2021
nice
H h f h k n g h h f i g d t ..l y g h r y
H h f h k n g h h f i g d t ..l y g h r y
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews