A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 10 - Harte

At last - with this book, we finally get resolution on some of the underlying plot threads that have been woven into this series since the very first book!  The story in this book has been building for a long time, and author Robert Innes does not disappoint.  This series started with the title character, Blake Harte, transferring to the small country village of Harmschapel, where he takes on the role of Detective Sergeant with the local police force.  He quickly develops a reputation for solving crimes that seem impossible - "locked room" mysteries, as they are sometimes called.  And Innes has definitely written some very well-plotted stories (leaving one to wonder just how he comes up with these crazy scenarios!).  But there has always been an underlying plot of why Harte moved away .... snippets of that incident of when he was just a boy ... an incident that has given him nightmares for years ... and the serial killer that he helped put away just before he moved to Harmschapel ... plus, there was the complication of that young man, his landlord's son, who has taken a particular interest in Blake, trying everything he can to destroy his relationship with Harrison Baxter.  And now, finally, everything is revealed in a devastating way...

This book is simply titled Harte, which is very fitting, since the mystery in this volume completely centers around Blake Harte.  His past comes back to haunt him in a vicious way.  Just as he is about to return to Manchester to help his best friend celebrate a momentous birthday, he and Harrison stumble across another body - only this one is not quite dead!  Tom Pattison, their landlord's son, has been struck in the head, and it's clear it was anything but an accident.  Blake, of course, wants to investigate, but he is told he is too close to the situation and to simply go on his vacation.  Little does he realize that his vacation is going to turn into one of the toughest cases of his career!

Innes holds back no punches with this one.  Harte finds himself once again facing the deadly Thomas Frost, who manages to escape prison in front of a live audience!  Everyone watches on television as he is loaded into the van that will transfer him to another secure prison - but when the van arrives at the other prison, the back doors are opened to find that Frost is not there!  How did he disappear from a guarded van that made no stops between the two prisons?  And with Frost once again on the loose, no one is safe.  Soon enough, the dead bodies start to turn up, and Sally (Blake's best friend and fellow cop) is called back on duty.  Blake manages to work his way into the investigation, but, boy is he in for some major surprises!  I won't spoil anything here, but I will say this - there are some definite unexpected surprises that no one could see coming, and if you think you have some of the connections between the characters figured out - think again!

Only Innes could write another impossible crime story that is so utterly engaging like this, and at a whopping 370 pages, not only is this the longest Blake Harte mystery to date, it is also by far the absolute BEST mystery to date.  With the life of someone very close to Blake on the line, he must not only figure out how Frost escaped from a moving van surrounded by cops, but he must also uncover the truth behind what happened to him when he was 10 years old, and exactly how Tom Pattison plays into all of this.  Expect the unexpected and just sit back and enjoy the ride as Innes takes you on a roller coaster ride from one shocking, awe-inspiring moments to another - and the ending?  Well, let's just say every once in a while, the hero does get a reward, and this time around, Blake might actually find himself a bit of real happiness at last.

Now, if we could just talk Innes into releasing the next book in paper format, and not just on Kindle!

RATING:  11 all-important license plates out of 10, well, simply because this book REALLY is that good!

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 9 - Atmosphere

If you love impossible mysteries, then you will absolutely enjoy the Blake Harte mystery series by Robert Innes.  From the very first book, I have gobbled up each and every mystery he has written, awed by Innes' ability to create crimes that seem ... well ... impossible!  From cars disappearing in tunnels to murders in locked rooms to a person drowning in an elevator to a dead person coming back to life.  Yet, Innes crafts these stories so well, and his detective, Blake Harte, has the perfect analytical mind to figure out exactly how each and every crime is committed.  In this ninth book, we get not a murder, but a magician's act whose assistant disappears in front of a live audience - literally!

Atmosphere is the ninth book in the series, and just when I think Innes could not possibly have any more ingenious ideas, he surprises me with another.  Harte and his partner, Harrison Baxter, are still dealing with the fall-out of their landlady's son trying to break up their relationship and Harte's ongoing nightmares about an incident that occurred when he was a child.  Harte is seeing a therapist, but he's not sure if talking about it will really help.  He's more anxious about his upcoming vacation to Manchester where he will be celebrating his best friend's thirtieth birthday party.  Everything in Harmschapel seems to be calm, so all he has to do is make it through the next week or so, and he'll be able to take a break from everything.  But, as always, fate has other plans...

The self-proclaimed great magician, Sebastian Klein, has come to Harmschapel to put on his magic show, along with his young daughter/assistant, Amelia, and his stagehand, Benjamin.  Harte is not exactly a huge fan of magicians, as his analytical mind can usually see through the tricks.  And when Klein asks Harte to watch what he claims is his greatest trick and see if he can figure it out, Harte can't resist.  Klein, of course, is none-too-thrilled when Harte is able to explain exactly how he makes his daughter disappear and then reappear in a large cabinet.  Harte promises to keep it quiet and not spoil the "magic" of it all for the people of Harmschapel who come to see the show.  The only problem is - when Klein perform the trick for the audience, something goes wrong and Amelia disappears for real!  But how is that possible, when Klein has installed a mirror above the stage so that the audience can see all angles of the cabinet to prove that no one enters or exits the cabinet during the trick.  So, if Amelia entered the cabinet but did not exit it, then where did she go?

It looks like another job for the master of solving impossible crimes!  Harte is back in his element trying to figure out exactly what happened to Amelia.  As he begins to look into the disappearance, he quickly discovers that nothing is what it seems with the magician and his crew.  Benjamin, the stage hand, seems quite disgruntled, so much so, that Klein fires him - but not before Benjamin threatens to expose the magician!  And Amelia may not be the shy little beauty that everyone saw on stage, for Harte soon discovers that she was seen at a strip club - and she was doing more than just taking off her clothes!  And what about Benjamin's claim that Klein was showing more than just fatherly love for his daughter?  And just how in the world does a local councilman figure into all of this?  Well, that's up to Harte to figure out.

Meanwhile, Harrison has his own little mystery to solve.  It seems Tom, the landlady's son, claims to be backing off of interest in Harrison and has promised to leave Harte alone; however, his mysterious phone calls, his intense secrecy about them, and his strange behavior, both towards his own mother and towards Harrison, gives Harte's partner reason to worry.  What is Tom up to?  And who is the mysterious "F" who keeps calling Tom?  Is it a new boyfriend, or is something much more sinister going on?

Innes provides a much darker mystery with this one, a mystery that delves into the darker side of humanity and the truly evil things people do.  At the same time, he continues building towards something big with the continuing subplot of Tom and his mysterious phone calls.  The next book is simply titled Harte, so I'm expecting all of the subplots to come to a conclusion with the 10th book, and we'll see just how Harte handles everything when it all comes to a head.

RATING:  10 cups of Horlick out of 10 for a mystery that is truly a mystery - no excessive foul language, no explicit or gratuitous sex, and no unnecessary hijinks - just great characterization, exceptional plotting, and fantastic mysteries!

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 8 - Touch

Author Robert Innes just never ceases to amaze me.  One "impossible" murder mystery after another, and the man never runs out of ideas!  A part of me wonders if we should be concerned that someone is able to craft murders in such a way that they are nearly impossible to figure out!  (That's a joke, if you hadn't guessed!)  In any event, his exceptional plotting and wonderfully written characters are what keep me coming back for more of Blake Harte and his countryside murder mysteries!

Touch is book eight in the series and features a story that centers around the local football games (and not "football" in the American sense of the word, but football as it is played in England - what we refer to as soccer here in the States).  I was an avid fan of the British television show Footballers' Wives, and even its short-lived spin-off series, even though I have never been, and never will be, a fan of sports.  That being said, my watching of Footballers' Wives did give me a small amount of knowledge about British football, so reading this story wasn't quite as foreign as I might have expected it to be.  Of course, it probably helped that Blake Harte has just as little interest in sports as I do, so it certainly made me identify with the Detective Sergeant on a whole new level.

 

This time around, the star footballer for the Harmschapel FC (which it never really says in the book what "FC" means - but looking it up online, I'm guessing it means "Football Club"?), is murdered on the football field - only thing is, he was completely alone on the side of the field, no one was near him, and it appears his side was slashed open with a knife of some sort.  So, how in the world does a person get knifed and killed in front of hundreds, if not thousands, of spectators, and no one saw a thing?  In fact, Harte and his team get video footage which reveals there was absolutely no one around Scott Jennings when he collapsed on the field and died!  Obviously, it's up to Detective Sergeant Harte to figure it out and bring the killer to justice.

But then another young man is killed in the team manager's office, a blunt blow to the head.  No one was said to have been in the room with him, and a teammate was outside in the hall when it happened.  So, how in the world did a second body turn up in an impossible situation?

One thing I like about Innes' writing is that he never beats around the bush.  He doesn't waste time with unnecessary sidebars or scenes that are unrelated to the tale at hand.  He provides a good build up, giving the reader just enough information about the characters involved so that you have a grasp on them all (or you think you do!), and then, BAM!  A murder happens, the manner in which the person is killed seems impossible, and you are left to wonder how Harte will solve this one.  Now, I will admit, in this story, there are a few things that happen and people say that make it a bit easier to figures some things out (although I was definitely led in the direction about one of the characters, who I was starting to believe was the killer, but turned out he definitely was not!); however, Innes kept enough twists coming that the ultimate revelations were a great surprise.

And, as if two murders were not enough, Innes delves a little bit more into Harte's past with a recurring dream he is having, as well as the lingering concerns regarding his partner's almost liason with their landlady's son.  And the book ends with a rather interesting cliffhanger of sorts, which I can only assume is a prelude to the next mystery (or perhaps the start of a build-up to the 10th mystery, which is named simply enough Harte).  In either event, I look forward to what Innes has in store!

RATING:  10 bloody strips of gauze out of 10 for enhancing the mystery genre as a whole with such intricately plotted crimes that keep the reader guessing up to the very end!

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 7 - Skeletons

These mysteries by Robert Innes are so good, I couldn't wait any longer to read the next book that I have, which is the seventh in the series. These "impossible" crimes are so well-plotted, one is left to wonder just how much time Innes has on his hands to come up with these unique and innovate ways to kill off people! Of course, Innes has created a just-as-unique detective that is able to look beyond the obvious and normal and deduce the strange manner in which these murders take place.  And this time around, whoo-wee, does Innes provide a doozy of a case!

A man known the Harte and the police force dies in a car accident, with numerous witnesses watching the car explode with him in it.  They were barely able to pull his wife out of the car before it went up in flames, and luckily, the only injury she sustained was a broken arm. Inexplicably, the widower thinks she sees her deceased husband, and when she runs off at his funeral (attended by a number of people, including Harte), Harte and his boyfriend follow to make sure she is alright. But when they arrive at her house, they are shocked to discover the very man they just buried choking his wife!  He takes off, and everyone wonders if what they saw was real.  Only one way to figure that out - exhume the body.  Under the cover of night (to avoid the prying eyes of the nosy townspeople), Harte and his fellow police bring up the casket from the ground.  The coffin is opened, and to everyone's shock, it is the wife's body inside!

Skeletons definitely provides an ever-twisting mystery of who is dead, who isn't, who killed them, and how?! The solution is not completely a surprise (at least, not for me), but it was rather ingenuous - I have to give Innes credit for coming up with something this unique. And the fact that the first victim is the town's undertaker, and thus someone who is well known throughout the community, adds to the mystique of the crime, since the chief of police and others seem to see a very different side to the man who Blake sees harassing and belittling his wife. Of course, it is those very differences that gave me the first clue as to what may be going on with the case...

Aside from the murder mystery, Innes continues the ever-continuing drama that is Blake Harte's life. Having recovered from his surgery in the last book, Harte and his boyfriend, Harrison, are trying to rebuild their relationship, with Harrison coming to terms with the amount of time Harte's job takes him away. But just when Blake things are beginning to settle, a call from someone in his past turns his whole world upside down! Now, not only does he have to deal with the baffling mystery of the dead seemingly coming back to life, but he has to face a possible consequence of his past that could have a devastating and deadly impact on his present.  (And no, I'm not going to spoil it and tell you what it is - but let's just say that Innes handles it in a very realistic way - Blake's reaction and turmoil over what to do is exactly the way I've seen people act when faced with the same possibility...)

Oh, and just in case you thought all of the above was more than enough for Blake to handle in one book, there is also the unexpected arrival of his landlord's son, Tom Roberts - a handsome young man who strikes up a friendship with Harrison. Blake has been concerned that Harrison doesn't really have many friends with whom he can socialize while he is at work, but as Blake watches Tom taking Harrison out night after night, seeing Harrison come home drunk, he begins to wonder if Tom doesn't have ulterior motives.  Yes, Blake's life is a regular soap opera with a seemingly unsolvable murder thrown in just to keep things interesting.

I just cannot recommend this series enough. I am always telling my friends about it and trying to convince everyone who reads mysteries to pick up the series. Can't wait to see what Innes has in store for Blake in the next book!

RATING: 10 small red books out of 10 for creating the most unique and enjoyable "impossible" crimes and writing characters that the reader truly cares about!

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 6 - Flatline

It's another impossible mystery for our intrepid sleuth, Blake Harte, to solve in this sixth installment of Robert Innes' mystery series.  Detective Sergeant Blake Harte has become one of my favorite sleuths, and Innes' has without a doubt become my definitely favorite author of gay mysteries for three simple facts:  (1) his mysteries are unique and mind-boggling at times, with impossible situations that keep the reader guessing the whole time; (2) the characters are very real and the reader can easily identify with them; and (3) Innes does not need explicit sex scenes to sell his stories - they are so well-written and engaging, they stand on their own!

Flatline finds Harte in the hospital to have his appendix removed. The poor guy is not only frustrated at being stuck in the hospital while his professional rival, Detective Sergeant Michael Gardiner, takes over his case load, but just before he collapsed in pain at home, he had been having quite the fight with Harrison (the love of his life) about the amount of time Harte has been spending at work.  Of course, there is that pesky little unsolved case of the woman who died the previous year, a victim of a hit-and-run.  Plus, Harte is convinced that Harrison knew what he was getting into when he moved in with him and began a relationship with him.  And he is convinced that Gardiner cannot possibly do as good a job as him.  So, to say he is a problem patient is putting it mildly.

Of course, Nurse Kelsey Richards has other things on her mind than Harte's obstinance. She and her boyfriend, Dr. Joe Tilsley, have a dark secret - one they have kept for exactly one year now. But as the anniversary of that secret arrives, so do the phone calls. And the text messages. And the videos. Someone knows their secret. Someone saw what they did and is out to extract justice once and for all. "The Watcher," as he calls himself (or she, they really can't tell), is watching them.  And that's when Dr. Tilsley turns up dead!

Now, remember, this is a Blake Harte mystery, so you know that death is going to be anything bur ordinary. Oh, no - Dr. Tilsley is found dead when the elevators door open. No gun, no knife, no wounds whatsoever. There is, however, traces of water around his mouth and nose (no water or dampness anywhere in the elevator, though). It turns out he died by drowning.  In a closed elevator with no one else in there with him?!?! Yes, this definitely looks like a case for the master puzzle-solver, D.S. Blake Harte. The only problem is, he is confined to the hospital bed following surgery to remove his appendix!  (Anyone who knows Harte, though, knows a little appendicitis isn't going to stop him from solving this case!)

Author Robert Innes provides yet another mind-boggling murder mystery with a seemingly impossible murder - it makes you wonder just what kind of research and planning Innes does in order to come up with these impossible crimes!  Innes provides some truly wonderful character development for the cast in this books - Harte, Gardiner, Harrison - they all learn some things about themselves and the people around them, and it truly makes the reader feel like they are a part of the family as you watch the characters develop more and more with each book.  And as for the mystery itself - it is definitely a doozy!  While it might not be overly difficult to figure out how he was murdered, it is the "whodunnit" that is the real puzzler this time.  Plenty of suspects, plenty of opportunity, and just when you think Harte has the murderer in his grasp, Innes throws in an unexpected twist that will definitely surprise you!

The Blake Harte mysteries is an ongoing soap opera of the lives of Harte, his partner, his friends, his co-workers, and the citizens of Harmschapel - the stories are engaging, the murders are unique, and the mysteries are creative.  This may very well be one of the absolute best murder mystery series on the market today, and I look forward to reading each and every one!

RATING:  10 surgical caps and masks out of 10 for keeping me on my toes until the very end trying to solve this one!

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 5 - Spotlight

Not gonna lie here - I see or hear the word "Spotlight," and I automatically start humming the tune to Madonna's song from the late '80s (1987, to be exact - my graduation year!). So, when I got the fifth Blake Harte mystery by Robert Innes and saw the title, well - let's just say, it brought a smile to my face. Obviously, the title and the story have absolutely nothing to do with Madonna or her song, but there isn't anything wrong with allowing something to bring some great memories to the forefront.

That being said, Spotlight is yet another of Innes' wonderful little impossible mysteries - only, instead of a locked room murder tale that he is so great at writing, this story finds our young Detective Sergeant figuring out what happened to a couple of drug dealers whose car he follows into a tunnel - but when he comes out the other side, Harte is shocked to discover the car never came out! And before you even think it - there was no hidden rooms, off-shoot tunnels, or hidden walls or floors within the tunnel. Nope, it was just your average, typical tunnel. So, then, you ask yourself - how in the world can an entire car that Harte and his new "partner" were following simply disappear? That is the whole premise for the fifth book in the Blake Harte series.

Harte is just beginning to settle into his new life with Harrison Baxter, and things appear to be looking up for the two of them, particularly after all of the hardships that Baxter has faced (see previous books for those stories). But, as always, life has other plans. Harte and his small police force have been feverishly trying to catch two local men who are dealing in drugs, but have been unable to do so. Detective Inspector Jacob Angel has called in someone to assist Harte - one Detective Alex Woolf, a hot-shot young detective from America. Younger than Harte, Woolf has quite the repuation, and Angel thinks Woolf is just the man to catch these drug dealers. The only problem is, Woolf is driving the car with Harte riding shotgun when they chase the two dealers on a rainy night into the darkened tunnel, only to emerge from the other side without the other car! How is that possible? Harte and Woolf saw the taillights of the car in front of them, they followed them into the tunnel, and for one split second lost sight of them - and that was all it took.

It's a new kind of "impossible" crime for Harte to solve, and Woolf's ego tends to get in the way. Unfortunately for Harte, Woolf isn't the only trouble he has to deal with, for without warning, Harte's parents show up on his doorstep! They were not aware of Harte's new partner, and his mother makes it clear that she wants him out of the way so that she can get Harte and his ex back together again. Tensions rise, and poor Harrison is trapped in the middle of everything - literally! As Harte gets closer to the truth, someone is determined to stop him from investigating, even if that means kidnapping Harrison.

Each of Innes' mysteries are fast-paced, drawing you in from the opening page and keeping you turning until the very end. The Blake Harte series is one of the very few series that, once I start the book, I can't put it down until I'm done. The characters are engaging and entertaining, and they are written in a way that you actually care about them. The mysteries are always quite the conundrum, and even when you think you have it figured out, Innes manages to throw some unexpected twists that make your jaw drop in surprise. In Spotlight, despite the fact that I had figured out who was involved in the deception, I was not at all ready for the reason or the heartbreaking revelation at the end regarding one of the dealers.

Of all of the mystery series that I read, I can honestly say that Robert Innes' Blake Harte series rates right up in the top three series that I would recommend to any mystery lover.  (And to emphasize the point, I went on Amazon a couple of weeks ago and ordered all of the rest of the books in the series that are currently in print!)

RATING:  10 discarded beer bottles out of 10 for never ceasing to amaze with the most puzzling murder mysteries that you just can't put down!

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 4 - Reach

With this fourth novel in the Blake Harte mystery series, author Robert Innes has without a doubt secured his place as one of my all-time favorite mystery authors.  Innes' ability to write a well-crafted murder mystery with endearing characters that will keep you guessing right up until the very end (or, for seasoned readers, at least until the half-way point!) shines through in each of his books, and this latest one I've read is a shining example.

Reach continues the ongoing threads of Detective Sergeant Blake Harte's growing relationship with young Harrison (as they take the next big step in this book), as well as his varied relationships with his superior and co-workers in the Harmschapel police department.  Readers also gain a bit of insight into Harte's past, as a criminal that he helped put away seven years ago comes back to haunt him in the worst possible way.  Thomas Frost was a serial killer who Harte captured just as he was about to claim his sixth victim. Kerry Nightingale is the one who "got away," so to speak.  But now, seven years later and from behind bars, Frost taunts Harte by claiming that he will finally finish what he started all those years ago.  "Before the end of the week," he threatens, "Kerry Nightingale will die!"

Innes then tells one of those "locked-room" stories that he is so good at.  Harte is determined to protect Nightingale at any cost, even if that means sitting outsider her apartment all night long with a security guard right next to him.  In a high rise building, there is no other way in or out - and yet, the next morning, Harte and the guard hear a crash inside, and when they rush inside, they find Nightingale on the floor, choking out the last bit of life she has left.  There are marks where she had been strangled, just like Frost had done to all of his previous victims.  But Frost is still behind bars ... so how in the world did Kerry Nightingale die?

All signs seem to point to the apartment building's other security guard, who was an ex-boyfriend of Nightingale.  As Harte investigates, it seems everyone has secrets, including Nightingale herself!  But even if that other security guard did kill her, how did he get in it and out of there without Harte and the first guard seeing him?  And how did he escape?  And to make matters worse, the prison where Frost is being held has footage of Frost from the morning when Nightingale dies - and at the time of her death, he can be seen with his hands out in front of him, as if he is choking the thin air!  Harte knows it is impossible for Frost to have killed her from behind bars, but there seems to be no rational explanation.

Then Harte learns that Frost had a son...and that Nightingale wasn't the only victim...and the ex-boyfriend's roommate can't provide a secure alibi for his roommate's whereabouts on the morning of the murder.  When a second body turns up and the ex-boyfriend goes on the run, Harte thinks the case is all wrapped up. But something is off about the whole thing, and when he finally confronts the ex-boyfriend, suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place!

Once again, Innes throws some nice little twists into the story, and while I had figured out a few of the aspects to the crime, the actual murderer didn't actually become clear until nearly the end.  At 160 pages, it is not a lengthy read, nor is it excessively heavy reading - but it is thoroughly enjoyable reading that you won't be able to put down.  Factor into that the background characters (Mattison and Patil's budding relationship; Sergeant Gardiner's bitterness about being passed on for Harte's position; and the unexpected death of one of the supporting cast that will shake everything up going forward!), and you've got the makings of a fantastic tale!

Can't wait to see what Innes has in store for the next novel!

RATING:  10 abortion clinic pamphlets out of 10 for keeping the mysteries fresh, unique, engaging, fast-paced, and utterly captivating!

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 3 - Ripples

Blake Harte Mysteries
Ripples
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date (May 2017)
ISBN 10 - 1521250928
ISBN 13 - 978-1521250921
205 pages

I can honestly say that Robert Innes has quickly become one my my all-time favorite mystery authors, and the Blake Harte series is my second-favorite adult mystery series (coming very close to my number one series, Odelia Grey mysteries). If I had any doubts before, this mystery definitely sealed it for me.

Ripples is yet another murder mystery with an impossible murder. Five people look out a window and watch a hooded figure stare at a man in a fishing boat. Those same five people stare in awe as the hooded figure literally walks on the water out to the boat. Then those five witnesses watch in horror as the hooded figure stabs the man repeatedly, pushes him into the water. When they get outside, the hooded figure has disappeared, and the man is lying face down, floating in the water. Dead.  They have just witnessed a murder - but how in the world could it have happened?

For anyone who read the previous two Blake Harte mysteries, you already know that Innes writes the most intriguing murder mysteries. Impossible crimes that, when ultimately explained, leave you in awe.  First, it was a locked room mystery. Then, it was a confessional murder. Now, his characters are eyewitnesses to a murder - but can they actually believe what they saw?

Innes takes Blake away from Harmschapel and sends him on a surprise holiday to Manor of the Lakes - an old family manor turned into a spa. As fate would have it, his landlady sets up the whole trip as a way to send Blake and his young love, Harrison Baxter, on a romantic get-away in the hopes it will bring them together. Blake and Harrison agree to take the trip as friends, but the unexpected murder - as well as the unexpected appearance of Blake's ex-boyfriend! - puts a damper on the whole trip. What starts out as a holiday adventure turns into a crime-solving caper.

Readers will enjoy the budding relationship between Blake and Harrison, but for me, the true fun I got out of this book was trying to solve the mystery. There is one suspect who is painfully obvious from the moment the murder takes place; as for the rest, well, Innes certainly knows how to keep things unique, that's for sure! I mean, seriously - how can someone walk on water? And how does that person disappear in a matter of seconds? And when the murder victim is someone everyone hates anyway, how in the world do you begin to narrow down the suspects? A family feud ... a younger brother who is bullied by the victim ... a wife that is tired of watching her husband be bullied ... an employee who is treated unfairly and ultimately fired. Of course, leave it to Blake to figure it all out and one-up his former boss (the local police chief) by solving the mystery and unmasking the murderer.

Oh, and just in case you're wondering - Blake does finally get resolution with his ex by the end of this book, so moving forward, I'm hoping to see Blake and Harrison's relationship blossom (because it really would be nice to see a mystery series with a couple who are actually happy!).

RATING:  10 detailed model railways out of 10 for proving the impossible could very well be probable - and making it totally believable!

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 2 - Confessional

Okay, the first book gave readers a locked-room mystery to rival Agatha Christie.  This second book tries so hard to top that one (no pun intended) with a unique mystery that seems almost unsolvable.  I mean, let's face it - three elderly people die of heart attacks while giving a confession in Harmschapel's small church, and a fourth person is discovered dead in that very same confessional, apparently from a heart attack.  But how does a healthy 17-year old die of a heart attack?  That is what Detective Sergeant Blake Harte is going to find out!

Confessional is not only the title of the book, but it also appears to be the weapon whereby someone is murdering the citizens of Harmschapel.  The priest seems to think someone is purposely killing the people, but D.S. Harte is reluctant to jump to that conclusion - until a teenager turns up dead, at which point he has no choice but to start an investigation.  But there doesn't seem to be any connection between the victims.  One was a beloved janitor at the local college, two of them were bitter old women, and the fourth was a teenage jock.  Who would want them dead?

As with the first book, author Robert Innes slowly reveals the truth as Harte investigates into the lives of not only the four victims, but also into the people connected to them.  The priest was with three of them when they died.  The new priest, a young lesbian, seems to have an ax to grind with the two bitter old women.  The teenager, though, seems to be the odd one out, for which no connection can be found.  There are no hidden entrances to the confessional, no holes through which anyone could push a needle or blow in gas, and there are no marks on the victims' bodies to indicate foul play whatsoever.  Which, of course, begs the question - if they did not die naturally of heart attacks, what could have induced them?

Now, I'll be honest here - I pretty much figured out who did it and how that person did it from the very beginning.  The only thing I was not sure about was the why?  When it was ultimately revealed (and I was right!), the reason behind the murders all made sense.  And figuring it out pretty early did not ruin the enjoyment of the book at all - in fact, it made me enjoy it all the more, as I was anxious to learn the reason why.  And I don't think Innes made it easy to solve; I think it's more the fact that I have read so many mysteries and watched so many mystery shows that, at some point, some of these murders become easier to solve.

I also enjoy the continuing subplots of Harte's feelings for Harrison Baxter, the young man he helped save in the first mystery, as well as the emerging relationship between Officers Patil and Mattison.  Plus, in this book, we get more insight into Officer Gardiner's private life and why he's always so cantankerous, and there is a surprise revelation that I did not see coming (but did make sense, in a soap opera kind of way).  And, it must be mentioned, that I am so thankful that we have an author of a gay mystery series who keeps the focus on the mystery and doesn't feel the need to throw in overly graphic sexual encounters just the keep the reader interested.  The story was well-written on its own, with engaging characters and a well-plotted mystery, that nothing else was needed to keep my attention.

Looking forward to reading the next one in this series.  Definitely recommend this for any and all mystery fans!

RATING:  10 love bites out of 10 for keeping the story grounded and reminding readers that not every story has a happy ending.

A Blake Harte Mystery, Book 1 - Untouchable

A man is thrown into a shed and locked inside.  There is only one door in and out.  There are no windows and no trick doors.  The man was alive when he was thrown into the shed.  When the shed is opened, he falls out, dead with three gunshot wounds.

It is the ultimate "locked room" mystery, and author Robert Innes weaves a superb tale of secrets, pain (both physical and emotional), and new beginnings in his first Blake Harte mystery, Untouchable.  I had this book on my Amazon watch list for quite a while, and a few months ago, I finally took the plunge and bought this first book.  I figured if it wasn't any good, I could pass it on and not buy any more.  Well, that is certainly not the case by any means, and I have already ordered the second book and can't wait to read it!

Innes' protagonist, Blake Harte, is a believable, caring Detective Sergeant who has just moved to the small town of Harmschapel.  He's hoping to get away from a bad break-up, and a new job, a new house, and a new community might just be the fix.  But, immediately upon his arrival, he finds himself thrust into a domestic violence call that turns deadly.  Harrison Baxter is a young gay man who thought he found his true love - but can true love withstand physical and emotional abuse?  Just as he finally gets the courage to break things off with his boyfriend, Daniel, things go from bad to worse - his father catches Daniel attacking him, so he throws Daniel into the shed behind their house, locks him in there, and calls the police.  The only problem is, when the police arrive, they open the shed to find Daniel dead, from three gunshot wounds!

Harmschapel (gotta love that name!) may seem like a quiet, quaint little town, but it is harboring some deep, dark secrets of its own.  A bitter detective who makes no bones about the fact that he wanted the job Blake got.  An abusive boyfriend, whose father died in a drunk driving accident and whose mother can't stay sober enough to see what her son is doing.  A mother and father who have a strained relationship, to the point that Harrison has to listen from his room to the abuse that goes on each night.  And a new Detective Sergeant who hasn't quite gotten over the fact that he caught his ex-boyfriend cheating on him - with a woman!

How did Daniel get shot in a locked shed?  Who killed Daniel?  And how can Blake solve this mystery when all the evidence points to the one person he is sure is innocent?  I will say this - while I did manage to figure out the identity of the killer before the reveal, I can honestly say the secrets this person was keeping and the motive behind the murder were not at all what I was expecting.  Which, makes me happy, because it means Innes was not only creative in his plotting, but he creatively keeps the reader guessing with misdirection and red herrings so that the solution to the crime is not so easy to figure out!

And Innes rounds the story out with a large supporting cast, all of whom I grew to love pretty quickly.  Inspector Royale, Sergeant Mandy Darnwood, Sergeant Gardiner, P.C. Patil, and P.C. Billy Mattison make up the police force in Harmschapel, while the barkeep, Robin, at the local pub, provides the information contact that knows pretty much everything that goes on in that sleepy hollow.  Although probably not as much as Blake's landlady, Jacqueline, who is quite the gossip and more than a bit smitten with Blake (too bad she's barking up the wrong tree!).  Each of the characters are well-rounded, with their own set of quirks, and give the book a grounded sense of reality.  They also provide plenty of contrast to Blake's normally calm, caring demeanor.

And, if the end of this first mystery is any indication, Blake might not be on his own much longer...

Definitely a superb start to a series, and I am looking forward to following Blake as he solves more crimes in his new home town of Harmschapel.

RATING:  10 butting billy goats out of 10 for kicking off a mystery series with a twist-and-turn murder and quickly lovable characters - it's got me hooked!