The Mystery of Nevermore Snow & Winter, Book 1
LGBT, Gay, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Emporium Press
March 30, 2017
Audio
7 hrs 58 mins; 269 pages
It’s Christmas in New York City, and all antique shop owner Sebastian Snow wants is for his business to make money and to save his floundering relationship with closeted CSU detective, Neil Millett. But when Snow’s Antique Emporium is broken into and a heart is found under the floorboards, Sebastian can’t let the mystery rest.
He soon finds himself caught up in murder investigations that echo the macabre writings of Edgar Allan Poe. To make matters worse, Sebastian’s sleuthing is causing his relationship with Neil to crumble, while at the same time he’s crushing hard on the lead homicide detective of the case, Calvin Winter. Sebastian and Calvin must work together to unravel the mystery behind the killings, despite the mounting danger and sexual tension, before Sebastian becomes the next victim.
In the end, Sebastian only wants to get out of this mess alive and live happily ever after with Calvin.
Available at Amazon.
Audio Book Review by Xanthe
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
**Possible spoilers re MC’s relationship**
This is actually my first book by C.S. Poe and overall, I enjoyed the plot and relationship that developed across the story.
Sebastian finds himself wrapped up in a mystery when he finds a pig’s heart in his own store. When he discovers others in his community have a link, he puts on his thinking cap and digs around to work out what’s going on.
Alongside that is his attraction to homicide detective Calvin Winter. His current partner, CSU detective Neil Millett, is on the rocks with their relationship still being in the closet after four years and Seb is becoming increasingly frustrated with it all.
The mystery starts off quite tame with Seb’s discovery in his store but soon evolves into more as he finds out others have been harassed and even murdered; the only thing linking them is messages left quoting Edgar Allen Poe, a subject he knows a lot about. I loved how I was kept guessing throughout, several possibilities arising and how Edgar Allen Poe’s work was used to tie everything together,
For the first time, I found myself more invested in the plot and mystery of the book over the relationship of the MC. It’s probably because of Seb still being with Neil when something happens with Calvin for the first time which I’m not a fan of but it helped to keep the tension between the characters as they move through the story and build mystery.
I wasn’t too sure on how quickly Calvin turned on the personal attention towards Seb and using a pet name considering the little interaction the two men had though you could feel the attraction sparking between them from their first meeting. As we move through the story it becomes clear as to why Calvin is quite reticent and reserved when it comes to relationships but Seb’s developing feelings mean he wants to put in the work for them to be together. They are definitely a couple I can see working out and am interested to see how they move forward with the stumbling blocks that they’ve already faced in this book.
There are some great side characters, quite protective of their people, including Seb’s father and Calvin’s partner at work. They help to give a little insight into the MC’s and how they are. I found Seb’s disability interesting, something I’ve never heard of before but clearly has quite an impact on Seb’s daily life.
A story I would recommend giving a try and I’m interested to see how the couple move forward in their relationship as well as what mystery the author can come up with next.
As with the author, this is my first experience with the narrator, Derrick McClain. I enjoyed the voices he provides to the characters and the emotions portrayed, especially in the tense moments between them. I look forward to listening to the next in the series.