Apidae Arthropoda Book #3
Murder, Mystery, LGBTQ Fiction, Bi Sexual, Kidnapping, Thriller
DSP Press
March 23, 2023
Kindle
309
Amazon
No good deed—or good record of solving crimes—goes unpunished.
Detectives Andi Hayes and George Donovan of the Charleston PD are on vacation. Or at least they are until they are called back for an emergency: find Chief Norris’s missing son.
Fortunately, Andi’s insect spies lead him right to little Tyler Norris, who is safe and sound.
Unfortunately, along with the chief’s son, they find twenty-five corpses, victims of a serial killer who’s gone unnoticed for over a decade.
Chief Norris promptly cancels Andi and George’s vacation and assigns them as lead detectives on the case. Physical evidence leads them to a mental health facility where some of the victims received treatment, but Andi’s gift—his usual secret weapon—fails him. Promising leads and shady suspects all turn out to be dead ends, and they’re running out of time. Because the killer isn’t going to stop at twenty-five victims—and Tyler Norris has just gone missing again….
Review by Xanthe
Reviewer for The Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
I am absolutely loving this series! There are really interesting cases with characters to love and hate, clues to pick up or leave behind and always a twist along the way. The relationship between the two MC’s, Andi and George, is going well for both as decisions are made and their working relationship strengthens.
This book has a story that goes from the kidnapping of the Chief’s son to the discovery of several victims of a serial killer. Even though the two are officially on holiday, Andi and George are called in because of Andi’s ‘skills’. Neither are happy with this as Andi is still recovering from the last intense case they had and they were using this time to help George get more in tune with Andi, helping to keep him more present. The discovery of the bodies leads to several suspects but leads quickly peter out and with Andi not being able to provide much with his gift. Because of the nature of the case, they are joined by someone from the FBI, two other detectives, a member of IA, and two beat officers. It makes for a mixed bag and our MCs are worried about keeping Andi’s secret around all these people so they are attempting to balance what they know from Andi’s arthropods and work that into the case with plausible questions and information.
Andi and George continue to grow closer in their friendship as Andi leans more on George both in work and at home. George takes his care of Andi very seriously, ensuring his sleep, food intake and stress levels are more improved than before, giving his mental health a better chance of making it through the case intact. There is also a step closer in a deeper relationship that I think they both have been falling towards since at least the end of book two. I’m looking forward to seeing how all aspects of their connection strengthens as the series continues.
I really enjoyed all the characters involved in this book. Things have been tough with the Chief since the beginning but it feels like it could come tumbling down as tensions crank up with the kidnapping of her son and the connection he makes to Andi. The FBI agent who has come to work with the team turns out to be pretty great. She’s very intelligent, has connections to the FBI and military, and takes everything that happens with Andi in stride which especially endears her to George. I like that we got to see more of the other officers in the precinct and with other departments that Andi has friends in, or as much as he has friendly relations with others.
I am loving this series and cannot wait to hear more from it. There is an excellent twist towards the end that will have an impact on Andi and George in their future and I’m excited to see how that works out for them. I’m also really interested to find out how their relationship develops further as they are the very definition of slow burn. Andi’s state of mind and connection to the arthropods is also something that continues to develop and is always the game changer whatever case they end up working on.
LGBT/FANTASY/MYTH & LEGEND/MYSTERY/ ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER/SUSPENSE – SERIES
