The Mermaid Murders (LenaR’s Review)

Title: The Mermaid Murders (The Art of Murder #1)
Author: Josh Lanyon
Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing
Release Date: March 1, 2016
Genre(s): Suspense/MM Romance/Contemporary/FBI Romance/Thriller
Page Count: 243
Reviewed by: LenaRibka
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Special Agent Jason West is seconded from the FBI Art Crime Team to temporarily partner with disgraced, legendary “manhunter” Sam Kennedy when it appears that Kennedy’s most famous case, the capture and conviction of a serial killer known as The Huntsman, may actually have been a disastrous failure.

The Huntsman is still out there…and the killing has begun again.

Oh yes! Josh Lanyon did it again! And how!

Let me congratulate us with a start of a new VERY promising series written in the best traditions of our dear author.
You favour books with the main focus on a MM romance?

You prefer a good structured mystery?

The bad news:

It is the first book and the next book in the series will appear in 2017!

The good news – for me anyway:

It might equally well be a standalone, and I wouldn’t be disappointed.

MEANS: The story has a lot of potential and could become a huge success among similar series. On the other hand, it has a VERY special HFN, that somehow ends at the right moment with the right mood. WHAT DO I WANT MORE? Except I want MORE.

Senior Special Agent Sam Kennedy, a legend in the Bureau, a brilliant profiler, but with a difficult reputation returns to Kingsfield where almost one decade ago he caught and put a serial murder behind bar. When suddenly a young woman disappeared there again, the Kinsfield Police Chief asked for Special Agent Kennedy’s help. Does he have a copy killer on his hand? Or could it be that The Huntsman, a serial murder, had a companion who just waited for a perfect moment to attack? And what if the wrong person was imprisoned? So many unanswered questions! It looks like one of our MC, agent Sam Kennedy, is not very popular for his very direct manner and some people can’t wait to see him lavishly failed. No wonder that Sam is not excited to find that for this case he has been temporarily partnered with Jason West, an agent from the Art Crime Team. (?!) Isn’t he supposed to work in a museum and not in the field?

OF COURSE their first meeting doesn’t go well. Kennedy let Jason know that he is going to work ALONE and that all Jason needs to do is stay out of his way, and Jason let him know that WHETHER he likes it or NOT, he is his partner for this case. Besides he doesn’t like to WORK with him EITHER, but they HAVE TO. Period.

Well when the second girl disappears, things get serious. And our guys start not just to work TOGETHER, but also…NO, I’m not going to spoil you the pleasure to find it yourselves.

That was a great read. We have a typical Josh Lanyon’s couple. VERY DIFFERENT, not only from their appearance. And as we know (also from all Josh Lanyon’s books) that Opposites attract! And we have here everything that a good suspense romance can offer:

We have thrilling actions, we have SEXUAL tension, we have great dialogues, we have a quick paced gripping mystery- I’ve been puzzling over the real murder almost up to the very end – and we have atypical for the author ending – there is no abrupt finale here. It is smooth and romantic and left me satisfied, beaming with happiness.

I don’t need to prey the writing. I read also some of Josh Lanyon’s books that didn’t work for me.
But this one belongs definitively to one of her best!

Amazon Global Author Link GoodReads More Author Reviews