From the Bookshelf of Q&A with Josh Lanyon…

The Mermaid Murders (The Art of Murder, #1)

Josh Lanyon

Start date: March 1, 2016

Finish date: March 31, 2016

Discussion: Book of the Month Club

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 2 topics — 4,118 comments total

Book of the Month Club

* Candidates for Next Month's Read
By Josh · 3043 posts · 623 views

last updated Feb 21, 2024 10:37PM

February 2025: The Lemon Drop Kid
By Karen · 15 posts · 20 views

last updated Jun 14, 2025 04:47PM

showing 10 of 14 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jan 08, 2016 Johanna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: m-m, favorites, romance, mystery, josh-lanyon

Wow. Just wow. What an exquisite start to a new series! No wonder Josh Lanyon was saying online that her fingers itch to write more about these two guys right away! This was such an intense reading experience — and such a rewarding one. The Mermaid Murders is a perfect mix of thrill, fear, fun and romance. I have no doubt that The Art of Murder series will become as loved as Lanyon's Adrien English Mysteries and her Holmes & Moriarity books. After all, it's written by one of the very best in thi Wow. Just wow. What an exquisite start to a new series! No wonder Josh Lanyon was saying online that her fingers itch to write more about these two guys right away! This was such an intense reading experience — and such a rewarding one. The Mermaid Murders is a perfect mix of thrill, fear, fun and romance. I have no doubt that The Art of Murder series will become as loved as Lanyon's Adrien English Mysteries and her Holmes & Moriarity books. After all, it's written by one of the very best in this genre. Josh Lanyon has been around the block a few times and she still keeps raising the bar of brilliant writing higher and higher. Because, it's not only her talent that makes this book shine so bright — it's her obvious joy of writing and creating.

I love the way Lanyon introduces her characters to us — the rhythm of her storytelling. It’s the way she paints the picture, layer by layer — with just right amount of muted colors and dark corners, but bright, light spots here and there. In The Mermaid Murders we get to see everything from Special Agent Jason West's sharply aesthetic perspective. His art loving eyes take note of every visual detail and make the reading experience vivid and rich. I found the big picture endlessly fascinating: the possible connection between the old murders and the new crimes, the fact that there were so many suspicious players all around, and finally the fact that this was Jason's ’homecoming’ after such painfully long time.

I treasure all the tiny flashes of watery images that start in the very early stages of the story. There're beautiful lines like: ”The light had a tired, watery look to it.” These images appear surprisingly and almost immediately they’re gone again. Some of them being Jason’s observations of his surroundings and some of them being his flashbacks. Remarks like these give Jason's memories almost a dreamlike quality. And they tentatively let us know how Jason's attempts of trying to look at his past self and the murders objectively from outsider's point of view aren't as successful as he'd like them to be.

And how about a character whose scent is ”top note sandalwood, bottom note obnoxious”? Because, yeah, that's Sam Kennedy alright. Oh, he’s a tough cookie! A sweet, though cookie. I love to witness his facial expressions, body language and tone of comments through Jason’s eyes and ears. And it’s so lovely to see him falling for Jason! I’m also eager to see what happens to Kennedy's workaholic self when Jason really, truly enters his everyday life. Because Kennedy seems to be a man who knows who he is and what he wants. And I have a feeling that’s about to be shaken a bit in the future...

I adore how the dynamics between our main couple develop throughout the story. It was intriguing to witness the effects Kennedy’s unapologetic character had to everyone — and to Jason particular. These two kept me highly entertained with their delicious dialog! They both have their edges and issues, and at first they appear to be almost each other's opposites. But when the story continues it becomes clear that Kennedy can quite unexpectedly be ”a one man sensual onslaught” and that Jason turns out to be at least as stubborn as Kennedy!

One of the things I've always loved about Lanyon's writing is the charming spot-on humor. Those sarcastic, witty lines stand out well in The Mermaid Murders' tense, even terrifying situations. The extremely grim nature of the serial killer murders shed gloomy, suspicious glow on every character, and I found the combination of that suspense and Lanyon's trademark humor especially delightful in this story! It felt good to laugh out loud every so often throughout The Mermaid Murders because I seriously think that I spent more time holding my breath than breathing while reading it. Even now thinking back to the abandoned town of Rexford, its creepy lyceum and all its smells and horrific, ghastly, watery details make me gulp and gasp and forget to breath!

I also have such a soft spot for humor used in sex scenes. Heads thumping against doors or thoughts like Jason's: ”Nothing like someone nibbling on your ears or licking your nipples to distract you from your worries—not that it didn’t create its own set of uncertainties.” Ha! Oh yes! There's so much delicious humor in this story, even in the emotionally raw, almost desperate, deeply touching sex scenes. Dear sweet Jesus. Josh Lanyon sure knows how to make them powerful and beautiful and touching at the same time. These ones were hot and mind blowing and wonderful and… profound somehow. Just like the characters themselves — deeply felt. Lanyon really, truly outdid herself this time!

Sometimes we're lucky enough to experienced an unexpected, deep outburst of feeling in front of a work of art. It can be a piece of music or maybe a painting that touches us deeply and makes us cry. In that moment that specific art work quite literally touches our heart — reaches into our soul! — and makes us see something precious very clearly. Whatever that precious and meaningful is to each of us at that very moment. Josh Lanyon did that to me with this book. I’ve been crying while sitting in front of Botticelli’s La Primavera in Uffizi and I’ve been sobbing in front of Mark Rothko’s paintings in Tate Modern. And I reacted exactly the same to The Mermaid Murders. Because Josh Lanyon truly touches my soul and makes me see the world and myself in it very clearly. Her words make me pause and reflect and ponder and... understand something I didn't see before. And that is the most wonderful gift art and artist can give us. ...more

23 likes · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2016 JR rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery, favorites, broken-men, romance, leo

For Jason West FBI Special Agent for Art Crimes, his assignment to partner with the legendary "manhunter " Sam Kennedy is more a nightmare than dream job. Jason is actually there to report back on Kennedy to his superiors, as someone wants Kennedy discredited.

Jason is forced back to the New England town of Kingsfield, where he lost his best friend to the serial killer, The Huntsman. Has the killer returned or is it a copy cat? An uneasy alliance is formed between West and Kennedy as they searc ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Mar 05, 2016 Mandapanda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: various-romance

Nice return to form from this author. I enjoyed the slow paced mystery. I certainly fell for the convincing red herrings. I liked the small town setting and I especially liked Jason's specialty in Fine Arts. I'm excited about the possibilities that holds for future mystery plots. Surely Kyser is a character that will appear again in another story? He was so suspicious...

The romance between Kennedy and Jason was surprisingly easy and seemed in contrast to their character descriptions at the begi ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Mar 09, 2016 Portia rated it it was amazing

Special Agent Jason West has gotten saddled with super-agent Sam Kennedy. Unfortunately, Kennedy is being watched by Jason’s supervisor and oh yeah, he’s a bit of an arrogant asshole.

It has been a while since I enjoyed a mystery this much. From page one I was hooked.

Jason has a history with the town and the Huntsman. A history that he chooses to keep to himself. Kennedy has earned the wrath of some higher-ups in the FBI, but we’re kept in the dark as to his exact crimes. The result is that I cou ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 03, 2016 Feliz rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cops-detectives-lawmen, contemporary, m-m, wait-for-sequel, crime, adversaries-to-lovers

This is a great opening to a new series. A satisfactorily concluded criminal case that introduces two heroes who couldn't be more vintage Lanyon if they tried... a big, bulky, enigmatic lawman, haunted by an as of yet unrevealed painful past, older and fair-haired, and a younger, slighter, bookish (or in this case, artsy) guy with a physical ailment trying to hamper him in various aspects of his life that he fights bravely to overcome. Both are somewhat drama-prone--Kennedy with his self-opiniat ...more

Like · see review

Mar 29, 2016 Lora rated it really liked it

yes, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Like · see review

Jan 18, 2016 Melanie Walker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Josh Lanyon is one of my 'must buy' authors and this latest book just reinforces that. I loved Jason and Sam (and all Sam's prickly edges). I can't wait to see where this new universe takes us. ...more

Like · see review

Mar 01, 2016 Ayesh rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite-cop

This is a typical Josh Lanyon book and I love such books, filled with mystery, hot feds, X-Files reference, and most of all sizzling chemistry between the MCs. Total 5 stars for me :D

Like · see review

Jan 01, 2016 Francesca marked it as to-read

Jan 01, 2016 Arch Bala marked it as to-read

Nov 22, 2016 Chris, the Dalek King rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mc-pairing-mm, borrowed-ebook-or-audio, contemporary, owned-ebook-or-audio, uniforms-and-private-dicks, murder-and-mystery, kindle-loaned-r

2 likes · Like

Feb 16, 2016 Juli marked it as to-read

Shelves: owned-are

Feb 24, 2016 Anne Barwell marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Jun 23, 2017 Venecia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: part-of-a-series, y-cop-pi-fbi, murder-mystery-suspense, y-location-massachusetts, romance, mm-romance, contemporary, thriller, crime, murder