All The Way Dead - Stephen E Stanley

[PaperMoon]

This book introduces Stephen E Stanley’s third whodunnit series with a gay protagonist. I really enjoyed the first three books with Jesse Ashworth (retired teacher) and Tim (retired police force) and their ‘Big Boys Detective Agency’ exploits (set in a quiet Maine township); the latter books in this series seemed a little uninspired to me. I never got into the author’s second series featuring Jeremy Dance and set in the 1930s – not sure why either.

All the Way Dead: A Luke Littlefield Mystery is set in contemporary WeHo where the main protagonist Luke Littlefield is as different from Jesse and Jeremy as possible; he follows in the grand tradition of gay characters such as Jory Keyes, Kevin Conner and more recently – Skylar Foxe. West Hollywood is a definitely the place to be if one is stunningly gorgeous (modelling and photo-shoots), artistically creative (two crime bestsellers published), relatively intelligent (a PhD and senior lecturer in anthropology) plus an uncanny ability to find himself in the midst of murder and mayhem. This fabulous character has it all – minus the love and romance of course.

Stanley’s books have never shied away from the more gruesome/graphic aspects of crime/homicide and given the nature of Professor Littlefield’s speciality/lectures – the plot and prose takes on a greater forensic tone. What’s more incredible is that the ‘evidence of foul play’ is uncovered not in some isolated beach or rundown mansion garden but merely a couple of feet away from Luke’s workstation in his office!! The prologue clearly indicates that Luke’s introductory foray into ‘sleuthing’ will be of a cold-case nature.

Assisting (or hindering) Luke in his exploits are the usual tried and tested secondary characters – sassy gay best friend (Dustin), an octogenarian vamp mother-figure with a potty mouth (Norma Jean) and the hunky assigned police officer Bryan. There’s a further but not overwhelming array of secondary characters providing the red herrings and distractions plus a secondary minor plot involving serious IT crime within Luke’s educational institution. And then on top of everything else, Luke is trying hard to reconcile / integrate the three very disparate arenas of his life plus navigating through the complicated mixed-messages from at least two fine men who want to get together with him for much more than tutoring/homework.

The plot pacing is tight and the forensic details not confusing nor boring. The uncovering of both crimes is believable and not too far-fetched (I was quite surprised as how unsensational the details of the cold case ended up being), there were one or two ‘did not see that coming’ plot twists and of course a resolution of sorts as to whether Luke finds and keeps a man to love. A word of warning - those familiar with Stanley's work will know that all the 'sex' is the fade to black/behind closed doors variety, which is fine with me for this genre of book personally. I enjoyed this latest Stanley offering – the snappy bantering and breezy nature kept this at the enjoyable beach-holiday reading level for me. Here’s hoping there will be more Luke Littlefield titles forthcoming soon.

Stanley’s website (http://stephenestanley.com/) indicates another Jesse Ashworth release this year involving a cold case and a cruise ship experience – goody goody.