From the Bookshelf of Q&A with Josh Lanyon…

Murder Takes the High Road

Josh Lanyon

Start date: May 1, 2018

Finish date: May 31, 2018

Discussion: Book of the Month Club

Why we're reading this: This will be our May 2018 read!!!
[close] This will be our May 2018 read!!!

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What Members Thought

Apr 03, 2018 Ami rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mm-mystery-suspense-thriller, mm-romance-or-erotica, arc-books

3.5 stars

Initially, I thought that Murder Takes the High Road would be like one of those classic closed-space Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery. It definitely has the perfect premise. Bunch of strangers getting together for a tour that aptly calls Tour to Die For, a mysterious man joining the tour at the last minute, fluttery gossip about unexplained death that happened in the previous tour...

BUT, it didn't really reach quite that level for me. First of all, it moved rather slow for a murder 3.5 stars

Initially, I thought that Murder Takes the High Road would be like one of those classic closed-space Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery. It definitely has the perfect premise. Bunch of strangers getting together for a tour that aptly calls Tour to Die For, a mysterious man joining the tour at the last minute, fluttery gossip about unexplained death that happened in the previous tour...

BUT, it didn't really reach quite that level for me. First of all, it moved rather slow for a murder mystery. The death of one of the tour members didn't really happen until 1/3rd of the book. Even so, it wasn't really a "shocking" death; it didn't make our strangers got all excited and concerned at the same time. There was no deep investigation to each of tour member's background, no scandals arose from any of them.

So yes, the Agatha Christie fan in me was not quite content with the story. I even felt that the story took more time dealing with Carter Matheson's love problem with his ex, and his ex's new boyfriend rather than the mystery. Not that I don't care about the romance factor... I really do, I want Carter to end up with someone. It's just that the book doesn't quite fulfill my expectation.

Furthermore, John Knight still ends up as rather unknown character, and that's too bad for someone who becomes Carter's love interest. I would love to know more about him, about his job, what makes him tick, and so on. Unfortunately, since I don't know whether there will be any sequel to this book, I have to deal with being slightly unsatisfied.

Having said that, I thought the final 'act' of this book was REALLY, REALLY good!! I loved that Carter solved the mystery by doing plain old research using books at the library. Heck, actually I thought it was pretty brilliant murder plot, the kind that I devour in mystery/thriller books. So on that part of the book, I was really happy.

The ARC is provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an exchange of fair and honest review. No high rating is required for any ARC received. ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Apr 20, 2018 Sandra (Waiting For Wentworth) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I'm always excited to read a new Josh Lanyon book, so I was pleased to get approved for an arc of Murder Takes the High Road. This was another wonderful multi-layered mystery from this author. The story was filled with just the right amount of heat, humor, and murder to be very entertaining. I loved the old school feel of the murder mystery and I enjoyed Carter's amateur sleuthing.

The Scotland bus tour provided an intriguing setting and an endless list of suspects. The characters were nicely dev ...more

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Jan 23, 2019 Kirsten rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I thought this was an interesting story-- not one of Josh's normal law enforcement series titles, but a standalone with a large cast of characters. And I did enjoy it, but... I thought there were too many mysteries and unanswered questions piling up: What's John's story? Did Vance really try to kill Carter? What happened to Rose and her diary, and who was in her room? Then the actual mystery, who killed Vanessa? I think I was a little nonplussed by the real mystery not actually happening until t ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2018 Jax rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtq, 4-star

Not quite on par with my favorite Lanyon books but I enjoyed it. I had some trouble keeping all the tour group members straight and this kind of ensemble-cast mystery inevitably left less time for the romance element, but what there was of Carter and John was lovely. Rounding up to 4 stars.

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Mar 14, 2017 Didi rated it liked it

Shelves: arc-netgalley-edelweiss, romance, mystery-suspense-thriller, men-in-uniform-law-enforcement, contemporary, m-m, lqbtqia

3.5 Stars

With that cover, I was sort of expecting a more sinister spin than this. Not that I didn’t enjoy the story, I did. Murder Takes the High Road put on quirky and hilarious assembly of casts, including our librarian hero, Carter Matheson. But the way the conflicts and mystery unveiled just left me unimpressed.

Characters and plot aside, what I loved about this book is the Scotland road trip the character and his group took. It’s no secret that I loved books set in Scotland and I truly enjo ...more

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