From the Bookshelf of Q&A with Josh Lanyon…

The Boy with the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity #3)

Josh Lanyon

Start date: February 19, 2024

Finish date: May 31, 2024

Discussion: Quarterly Rereads

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Quarterly Rereads

* February/March 2024: Somebody Killed His Editor: Holmes & Moriarity Book 1
By Karen · 8 posts · 22 views

last updated Mar 12, 2024 06:31PM

February/March 2024: All She Wrote: Holmes & Moriarity 2
By Karen · 2 posts · 13 views

last updated Mar 24, 2024 09:14PM

What Members Thought

Oct 05, 2014 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: i-copyedited-this

Book 3 in the Holmes & Moriarity saga, The Boy with the Painful Tattoo, has now arrived to the delight of Josh Lanyon fans everywhere. When this third installment in Josh’s contemporary mystery comedy series opens, Kit and J.X. have just started living together and have moved into a newly purchased house in San Francisco. First up though, J.X. is off to a mystery fiction convention in Las Vegas while Kit remains at their home to deal with the myriad details of getting everything organized. What Book 3 in the Holmes & Moriarity saga, The Boy with the Painful Tattoo, has now arrived to the delight of Josh Lanyon fans everywhere. When this third installment in Josh’s contemporary mystery comedy series opens, Kit and J.X. have just started living together and have moved into a newly purchased house in San Francisco. First up though, J.X. is off to a mystery fiction convention in Las Vegas while Kit remains at their home to deal with the myriad details of getting everything organized. What ensues is IMO the funniest book Mr. Lanyon has ever written, while still giving his devoted mystery readers a healthy dose of what they have come to expect from the master of the whodunit.

Never one to discuss plot points – I feel each reader needs to discover the story for themselves - I do however want to comment on several elements that drew me in and held me in its grip, page after page. First, Josh’s riotous sense of humor was ever-present and spot on from beginning to end. I laughed so hard and so often I felt at times I was near convulsing. Second, the new house was an important character in its own right in this tale, and Josh’s illuminating descriptions, both inside and out, were truly breathtaking. I so wanted to take up residence there! Third, Kit’s and J.X.’s relationship evolved throughout this work in ways that are rarely seen in series writing once MC’s have established their close connection. Included in this beautifully-realized dynamic (and Mr. Lanyon truly outdid himself here) were original, thoughtful, passionate sex scenes designed to highlight formerly unexplored aspects of their personalities. And lastly, as an added treat for many of us, Kit & J.X. spent time at Cloak and Dagger Books with everyone’s favorite couple. All this, combined with an engrossing, well-crafted mystery filled with murder and mayhem in the JL tradition, made for a perfect reading experience.

A brilliantly written, thoroughly entertaining, hilarious next chapter in this very popular series. Josh has never been better. Highly recommended.
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Aug 18, 2013 Sagajo rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Good. Kits indecisiveness is a bit annoying at times, it's like he stumbles through life in this book. Felt he had more direction in the previous books, even though he stumbles in those as well. ...more

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