Dual Review :Broadway Butchery Momento Mori Book #3
LGBTQ Mystery, Gay Romance, Gay Mystery, New Release, Dual Review
Emporium Press
June 22, 2023
Kindle
311
Amazon
The Cold Case Squad of the NYPD is overworked, understaffed, but receiving great press due to star detective Everett Larkin. His uncanny memory and Holmesian-like skills of deduction have already led to the capture of one serial killer. Now he’s identified a second predator and brought an end to their twenty-plus year reign of terror.
Routine construction at a Broadway souvenir shop leads to the discovery of a mummified woman in the wall. And when Larkin receives a mysterious VHS tape that same night, he knows it’s no coincidence. Expecting a Victorian mourning artifact to surface in this new mystery, Larkin wastes no time turning to boyfriend Ira Doyle of the Forensic Artists Unit for help.
A web of nameless victims, countless suspects, and endless lies drag Larkin and Doyle deep into the gritty past of Times Square, reopening painful wounds and testing the fortitude of their relationship. And all the while, someone is watching, biding their time until they can make Everett Larkin nothing… but a memory.
Dual Review Ulysses Dietz and Gloria Lakritz
Members of The Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
Ulysses says: 5 *****STARS
C.S. Poe’s elegant writing works so very well with these characters—Everett Larkin and Ira Doyle. She gives her reader double-barreled satisfaction: a complicated, unsettling, and eerie murder mystery, combined with an equally complicated love story between two deeply damaged men who are also unquestionably good.
There is plenty of room for wry humor in Poe’s narrative, fueled largely by Larkin’s deadpan delivery and arch wit. Larkin could become a comic figure if it weren’t for the exploration of his overcharged brain, forcing the reader to understand just how painful Larkin’s life has been. The same gift that makes him an unbeatable detective causes him constant emotional pain. He is also unashamedly gay, in attitude and style—something I see too little of in this genre.
In the course of the book, as Larkin and Doyle work on the case, they also get to know each other more fully. Trust is a huge issue for both of them, but so is the necessity of keeping secrets. Doyle’s reticence is undone by Larkin’s unstoppable mental Rolodex, and both men must remember to tread lightly with each other, understanding how much they have been hurt themselves. It is a beautiful thing to watch Poe weave her emotional story into the grim details of the Memento Mori puzzle. Both plotlines, the forensic and the romantic, are always present, always intertwined, always making the reader think and feel. Somehow, it’s exhilarating rather than exhausting.
Poe also conjures up a great sense of place. As someone who knows New York City well, and who remembers the seediness of Times Square in the 1970s and 80s, I was impressed with Poe’s use of this setting to underscore the tragic grubbiness of this world and its denizens.
The best news is that this isn’t the last book in the series.
Gloria says: 5 *****STARS
Clearly, writers strive to write their stories and be accepted as a good author in their field. Very rarely in a lifetime has such a young author stepped to the forefront in their field. C.S. Poe has magnificent writing skills that resonate thru her work. The ‘skill ‘of the handling of ‘three different tells’ in her story is a compliment to that skill.
Memento Mori should be read in order. We began at Book #1 Madison Square Murder, Book #2 Subway Slayings and now #3 Broadway Butchery all have a constant.
First the Main Characters: Everett Larkin and Ira Doyle met during a case at Madison Square Park.
Everett Larkin works on The Cold Case Squad. He now has made a name for himself by solving a series of murders including a Serial Killer Murder who had stalked NYC for many years. Everett is the champion of those who are killed and their names are in a box marked Unsolved.
Ira Doyle works in the Forensic Artists Unit of NYC. They met working in Madison Square Park. The meeting had them working together, respecting each other and finding they were interested in each other as well. Larkin comes with lots of emotional baggage and is also in the middle of a nasty divorce. Doyle is also a broken young man inside.
So as I noted originally, this author manages the weaving of these two very emotionally wounded young men, learning boundaries with each other, that sometimes takes the readers breath away, as they become something and are learning more about each other.
The storylines woven through the three books that is so far are very interesting for mystery buffs. Murders go back many years so this is also interwoven to the past. The information needed with only rolodex the mind of Everett, who can remember everything he has read…..and Ira a team who is an artist who can help his cause.
In Subway Slayings Book #2 the two realize they are more than co workers and Everett moves into Ira’s apartment. This is bringing them closer to seeing how each one emotionally needs the other and the sharing and caring grow. And tho we have closure for that book, Everett does gets another mysterious note.
For #3 they are brought to a shop on Times Square and 42 Street. Being a New Yorker myself, it was known that in the 70-80’s that area was Smut Alley….Strip Clubs, drugs and soliciting were rampant. So of course the call to The Cold Case Squad when finding a dead body in the wall was found by the crew doing renovation work for a store owner . This brought Everett and Ira into the case. This story we found had more of what happened during the Subway Slayings Book#2 and even more……
So back to the author and her handling this book with the three tells I mentioned ….One this is a wonderful Murder Mystery story. Next the two officers and how they work a case and the support and respect that they give each other. Lastly Everett and Ira have found each other and some of the wonderful scenes that are sometimes breath taking; they have such un said respect and caring for the other. Wonderful writing…..
LGBT/ROMANCE/SUSPENSE/MYSTERY/THRILLER
LGBT/ROMANCE/SUSPENSE/MYSTERY/THRILLER – SERIES