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Mitch Mitchell Mystery #3
Sticky End
Best friends and sometimes lovers Edward "Mitch" Mitchell and Harry "Boy" Morgan have been in terrible jams before — their adventures of murder, mystery, and unstoppable sex have made The Back Passage and The Secret Tunnel international bestellers. In A Sticky End, Mitch must face the possibility that Boy is involved in the chain of events that led to the suicide of his own colleague and secret paramour, Frank Bartlett. To absolve Boy, Mitch races around London finding clues while bedding the many men eager to lend a hand — or more. The policemen, working class gigolos, steam room bathers, embezzlers, and blackmailers that Mitch comes across create a tasty mystery and satisfying erotic romp.
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First published January 1, 2010
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399 people want to read
About the author
James Lear
13 books363 followersJames Lear is the nom de plume of prolific and acclaimed novelist, Rupert Smith. He lives in London and is the 2008 Winner of Erotic Awards "Best Writer".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
June 21, 2022
In the hour that followed, we all came at least once.
LOL, this was truly a masterpiece. I loved every little detail.
Most of all, though, it was a spectacular - and incredibly gay - homage to Agatha Christie's and AC Doyle's work.
Once again bored with his 'normal' life with doting boyfriend Vince, Mitch travels to London to meet his best friend slash 'fuck-buddy' Boy Morgan for a weekend of endless sex while Boy's wife and kids are away.
However, arriving in Morgan's estate, Mitch not only finds his best friend and casual lover in extreme distress, he also has to deal with a dead body in Morgan's bathroom.
Consoling Morgan in his despair, Mitch slowly unveils the puzzle pieces to a terrible murder that took place in the hidden secret lives of the wealthy elite of London and the handsome hookers they're spending a fortune on.
But how does poor innocent Boy Morgan fit into all this?
Mitch is working hard,..... really hard,....... to get to the bottom of things. Or bottoms.
And I'll be damned if someone wasn't fingered to death in the course of this story.
It was crazy, it was juicy, it was amusing (I loved how Mitch warns a male prostitute of the dangers of STDs, only to fuck him right then and there).
There are some incredibly genius moments in this book. Like, how do you get a butch soldier to admit he's gay?
“I don’t believe you. I think you’re lying to me, just to get out of having surgery.”
“No, honestly sir. I like it. I do.”
I started fucking him with those two fingers. “Do you? The only thing that will convince me that you are truly what you say you are is if you can ejaculate with something inside your ass.”
“I can, sir. Honestly I can.”
“My fingers?”
“Yes, sir.”
“One? Or two?”
“Two, sir.”
“That still won’t persuade me. What about three?”
“Yes, sir. Or more.”
“What about something really big? Like my penis?”
“Yes, sir. That would do it.”
“You’d let me fuck you up the ass?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’d enjoy it?”
“Yes, sir. Very much.”
“You’d come while I did it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You’re lying.”
“No, I’m not. Try it. Fuck me, sir. See how much I like it. I’ll come for you. It won’t take long.”
“All right, ” I said, unbuttoning and pulling out my painfully hard cock. “I hope for your sake you’re telling the truth.”
This book is one of the most entertaining erotica stories I've read in a long time. James Lear is an excellent writer who knows EXACTLY how gay men tick, it's amazing.
A 5 star favorite!
January 21, 2015
4,5 stars!
Farewell, Mitch! Farewell, Boy!
For me-the best instalment in the series.
Differently melancholic? Maybe.
Nostalgically touching? Yes.
More serious than the previous books(IMO).
But as always funny.
And as always- VERY DIRTY.
And as always- EXTREMELY GOOD WRITTEN.
I don't need to recommend it to anyone.
You finished the second book and enjoyed it? You have probably already started to spare money for the next book or made debt to buy it. Because my only complaint- James Lear is not cheap!
But the quality has its price.
May 27, 2014
Something odd happened while reading this last installment of the Mitch Mitchell Mystery series. This book had all the signature James Lear moves, including a bit of and seducing an unsuspecting constable while urinating. The mystery, a suspicious suicide, had Mitch both stumped and emotionally raked over the coals. The emotion came from the fact that his secret paramour, Boy Morgan, was down at the station under question for most of the book. At wits end both emotionally and intellectually, Mitch employed a new contemplative technique that involved him getting thoroughly f*cked, to help him think through the case. Ok, that was not a totally new technique for Mitch, but being stumped was new.
So what was unusual about this? ** mild spoilers follow **
While these books are generally silly and OTT, you occasionally hear Mitch’s inner dialog and he does sometimes feel bad about the fact that he two-times his ostensible love Vince. He also questions Boy Morgan’s character, as Boy has a wife and children, but is also happy for some Mitch on the side. Generally Mitch’s libido gets the best of him, and this inner dialog is easily squashed. However, when he finds out that Boy has not only taken another male-lover on the side, but has become emotionally entangled, Mitch is quite taken aback. So when Boy is suspected in said lover’s death, Mitch beings to question if Boy is capable of such a thing. In the end,
So what was unusual about this? ** mild spoilers follow **
While these books are generally silly and OTT, you occasionally hear Mitch’s inner dialog and he does sometimes feel bad about the fact that he two-times his ostensible love Vince. He also questions Boy Morgan’s character, as Boy has a wife and children, but is also happy for some Mitch on the side. Generally Mitch’s libido gets the best of him, and this inner dialog is easily squashed. However, when he finds out that Boy has not only taken another male-lover on the side, but has become emotionally entangled, Mitch is quite taken aback. So when Boy is suspected in said lover’s death, Mitch beings to question if Boy is capable of such a thing. In the end,
October 12, 2014
A Sticky End (Mitch Mitchell Mystery, #3)
Wow the best of the three mystery's
Wow the best of the three mystery's
July 13, 2020
~3.5 stars~
October 24, 2016
I was titillated, I laughed, I cried (at the end); in short, I was entertained. What else could one want for a one-sitting read on a sick day?
February 11, 2011
A perfect end to a wonderfully entertaining series, A Sticky End sees Boy Morgan suspected of murder and Mitch having to shag his way across London in an attempt to discover the real culprit. There is more depth to this story than the previous two, with Mitch questioning his relationship with Boy and his lack of faithfulness to Vince, but it doesn't stop him enjoying all the cock on offer.
The secondary characters were superbly drawn and the ending wrapped things up in a rather moving way. I think this was my favourite of the whole series. Highly recommended to all gay erotica fans!
The secondary characters were superbly drawn and the ending wrapped things up in a rather moving way. I think this was my favourite of the whole series. Highly recommended to all gay erotica fans!
June 14, 2014
I just absolutely adored this series! You would never expect such superb writing and such an elaborate plot in an erotic tale. I can't say enough good things about this author.
October 15, 2017
WOW! THAT WAS A THING A READ! with such literary gems as, "economy of spunk", "his prostate, like a small potato covered in silk", "I have come here to suck penises", "what I needed was half a yard of penis in my guts" !!
I love the Mitch Mitchell series, each book is as outrageous and kinky as the last.
This one in particular had a good mystery to be solved, and had a good resolution, both of the mystery and for Mitch when he returned to Vince.
I love the Mitch Mitchell series, each book is as outrageous and kinky as the last.
This one in particular had a good mystery to be solved, and had a good resolution, both of the mystery and for Mitch when he returned to Vince.
May 11, 2020
Plot-wise this was the most entertaining and complex out of all Mitch Mitchell novels that I've read. The end was bittersweet but very satisfying. The rest was as ridiculous and entertaining as any other James Lear book.
I loved it.
I loved it.
October 23, 2010
The mystery was extremely well made, and it was impossible for me to figure out (being new to the mystery genre). I found the last installment to the series much better than the preceding 2, with characters I loved (and hated). As usual there was a lot of sex, which sometimes occurred in the most unrealistic ways. So unless you're a big fan of smut, it slowed the mystery down a bit (which is why it took me 2 months to finish). That aside, definitely got better from about halfway, and I absolutely loved the ending. Trying not to spoil it, but before he left Britain, conclusion between him, Morgan and Vince was (what I would consider) resonant for many readers. In the last few pages, I was astounded to find how quickly my mood changed from depressed, to elated and warm (just can't get over the ending xD).
Anyway, favourite character is Belinda :D
Anyway, favourite character is Belinda :D
November 1, 2011
Another fun romp with Mitch Mitchell in foggy London town this time and he certainly finds some rather obscure corners to explore! Side-kick and long time, off and on bed fellow Harry 'Boy' Morgan takes a bit more centre stage and behind the usual, tongue in cheek, humorous who-done-it and the sexual shenanigans, Lear touches on the darker side of his closeted, secondary character. This and a host of other well drawn characters make this feel like a more substantial read than the first two of the series. It's no less enjoyable for it. I do wonder though whether there is more Mitch Mitchell in stall for us. Somehow this has the feeling of an end about it. I hope I'm proven wrong.
March 25, 2017
These books are pretty fun if you're just looking for some campy detective stories and a lot of all-male action. One thing that I liked about this one was Mitch's growing self-awareness of how much of a giant whore he is (but I like that he doesn't make excuses about it), and that he realizes he's got a pretty awesome thing going on with Vince, and it's just putting him in neutral that he's always chasing around Boy Morgan. I also want to know where this fantasy land is that all men are gay, because I'd really like to go there and videotape it all for prosperity.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 20, 2013
This is the most serious of the three books in this series and the plot is the most developed. There is still the same amount of man on man sex as in the first two stories. Mitch takes the investigation much more seriously, probably because Boy is in real trouble. The end is bitter sweet -- leaving the open question of whether there will be another story in this series.
October 22, 2011
I think this is the best out of the three of them. Who would have thought, while reading the first two in this trilogy, that the third would be emotionally heavy? It's not often that you have smut where the charaters contemplate (and bear the consequences of) their deceitful sluttiness.
March 24, 2015
Great mystery, well written, and a lot of fun. There's a more serious, wistful side to this one (compared to the first two books in the series), and i enjoyed getting to know that aspect of Mitch's character.
December 7, 2021
This book was all about Mitch’s conflicted feelings for Morgan.
My heart broke for Mitch. But then Vince loves him too so he should be happy, right? Yes and no. I can’t hate Morgan either because that’s just who he is. But then, there’s just so many why’s. Still, I wish I am as virile as Mitch.
My heart broke for Mitch. But then Vince loves him too so he should be happy, right? Yes and no. I can’t hate Morgan either because that’s just who he is. But then, there’s just so many why’s. Still, I wish I am as virile as Mitch.
December 5, 2013
The protagonist in this campy version of the classic drawing room murder has the most astoundingly satisfying sexual encounters with almost every male character that crops up. Fun on every page!
July 12, 2015
This was a selection of the Terrible Book Club. And I read it. And that's pretty much all I have to say.
June 18, 2024
Ever the traveler, murder seems to follow Mitch Mitchel everywhere he goes. Copious amounts of gay sex also seem to follow him, though I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. It’s time to investigate another murder mystery in James Lear’s A Sticky End, the third book in the Mitch Mitchell Mystery series.
As with the other books in the series, our main character is Edward “Mitch” Mitchell, a horny young gay doctor who also fancies himself an amateur detective. Normally Mitch would be accompanied on his investigations by his best friend, Harry “Boy” Morgan, but there’s a catch this time: Boy is this murder’s primary suspect.
Just like the other deaths Mitch has come across, he immediately sets to work trying to solve it, and by extension, save his friend from being hanged for it. He also starts making himself some useful allies - PC Knight the young police constable set to watch the murder scene (Mitch seems to have a type), Tippet, a mousy young man who worked for the victim, and Bert, a burly man known for his muscles and big dick. And of course, Mitch fucks them all.
Mr. Lear does a wonderful job at presenting us with the setting, a mid-1900’s London. Each location we visit is described in just enough detail, even the seedy gay bars. It almost makes me wish I could visit that time myself - you know, were it not for the rampant homophobia and racism. The lack of hygiene probably wasn’t great either, but thankfully the author sidesteps all those issues. One thing he does make sure to touch on though, is the homophobia of the time period, and the things people will do - and how they will look the other way - to live the life that they want.
One thing I liked about this book that set itself apart from the last two (particularly the first one) is how introspective Mitch is regarding his own actions and behaviors. Multiple times he wrestles with his inability to keep his dick in his pants, and the habit he has of putting it before his detective work. He is also forced to confront his own emotions.
First for his lover Vince, who things seem to be on the rocks with - which Mitch knows his infidelities only contribute to. But Mitch is also forced to deal with his feelings for Boy Morgan - who he learns has seeming found himself a new male lover. One he seems to share actual feelings for. Needless to say, it makes Mitch intensely jealous. But given his proclivities, he knows he is no saint.
But it’s not like he's not going to be celibate or anything - this is erotica, afterall! This book is packed with fun and seedy sexual encounters of all types. Mitch fucks his way around London and through his own suspect list, with each encounter bringing him closer to the truth - not that he knows it at the time. His dick is like a divining rod for clues.
This was another excellent book in the Mitch Mitchell Mystery series. I laughed, cheered, I got turned on - what more could you ask for? I will be eagerly picking up the fourth novel in the near future, and hope that more are on the way. Mitch has become my own Sherlock Holmes.
As with the other books in the series, our main character is Edward “Mitch” Mitchell, a horny young gay doctor who also fancies himself an amateur detective. Normally Mitch would be accompanied on his investigations by his best friend, Harry “Boy” Morgan, but there’s a catch this time: Boy is this murder’s primary suspect.
Just like the other deaths Mitch has come across, he immediately sets to work trying to solve it, and by extension, save his friend from being hanged for it. He also starts making himself some useful allies - PC Knight the young police constable set to watch the murder scene (Mitch seems to have a type), Tippet, a mousy young man who worked for the victim, and Bert, a burly man known for his muscles and big dick. And of course, Mitch fucks them all.
Mr. Lear does a wonderful job at presenting us with the setting, a mid-1900’s London. Each location we visit is described in just enough detail, even the seedy gay bars. It almost makes me wish I could visit that time myself - you know, were it not for the rampant homophobia and racism. The lack of hygiene probably wasn’t great either, but thankfully the author sidesteps all those issues. One thing he does make sure to touch on though, is the homophobia of the time period, and the things people will do - and how they will look the other way - to live the life that they want.
One thing I liked about this book that set itself apart from the last two (particularly the first one) is how introspective Mitch is regarding his own actions and behaviors. Multiple times he wrestles with his inability to keep his dick in his pants, and the habit he has of putting it before his detective work. He is also forced to confront his own emotions.
First for his lover Vince, who things seem to be on the rocks with - which Mitch knows his infidelities only contribute to. But Mitch is also forced to deal with his feelings for Boy Morgan - who he learns has seeming found himself a new male lover. One he seems to share actual feelings for. Needless to say, it makes Mitch intensely jealous. But given his proclivities, he knows he is no saint.
But it’s not like he's not going to be celibate or anything - this is erotica, afterall! This book is packed with fun and seedy sexual encounters of all types. Mitch fucks his way around London and through his own suspect list, with each encounter bringing him closer to the truth - not that he knows it at the time. His dick is like a divining rod for clues.
This was another excellent book in the Mitch Mitchell Mystery series. I laughed, cheered, I got turned on - what more could you ask for? I will be eagerly picking up the fourth novel in the near future, and hope that more are on the way. Mitch has become my own Sherlock Holmes.
October 12, 2023
Mitch has arrived at the home of his married-with-children college love, Morgan, only to find it empty of everyone except for Morgan and a big pool of blood coming from the upstairs bath. Seems Morgan, an account manager for a London bank, has having an affair with Frank Bartlett, a client and prominent lawyer, for the past 18 months or so. But as Morgan begins telling it, he had been trying to end the relationship for a while now, and after an argument about it, the pair of them go out for a night of debauchery. Then the evening ends with Frank dead in the bathroom. It's suspicious but Morgan insists he had nothing to do with it.
Mitch doubts Morgan's story but begins investigating... and like in prior mysteries in this series, Mitch does his best detecting while having some incredibly creative sexual exploits. Half the story is Mitch having sex, and when he's not getting some, he's definitely thinking about it. A lot of it is actually kind of hot, and there's more than one kind of sticky end featured in this ironic tale.
The author does a fairly good job of spinning the plates, but after a while it feels like he overcomplicated the mystery with dozens of retreads on what happened. I'd rate the mystery portions as about a 2, but the erotic adventures were more of a 4, so I compromised with a 3 star rating.
Mitch doubts Morgan's story but begins investigating... and like in prior mysteries in this series, Mitch does his best detecting while having some incredibly creative sexual exploits. Half the story is Mitch having sex, and when he's not getting some, he's definitely thinking about it. A lot of it is actually kind of hot, and there's more than one kind of sticky end featured in this ironic tale.
The author does a fairly good job of spinning the plates, but after a while it feels like he overcomplicated the mystery with dozens of retreads on what happened. I'd rate the mystery portions as about a 2, but the erotic adventures were more of a 4, so I compromised with a 3 star rating.
August 24, 2011
James Lear has done it again. As his followers know, he is "the nom de plume of a prolific and acclaimed novelist" in England. By now, James Lear as a distinct writing persona has a backlist and a cult following, as does his mystery-solving protagonist, Edward ("Mitch") Mitchell.
Each novel starring medical doctor Mitch Mitchell has a suggestive title (The Back Passage and The Secret Tunnel predate the book under discussion), is set in England in the 1920s, and features a dizzying number of male-on-male sex scenes that are integral to the plot of a brain-teasing whodunit. James Lear is not exactly like the elegant stylists of the period he writes about, but he is as much of a trailblazer as any bohemian artist of the past. James Lear has created a hybrid genre of sexually explicit mysteries, and he writes them with confidence and flair. Not a word or a clue (or a finger, or, ahem, anything else) is out of place.
A Sticky End seems to be the darkest "Mitch Mitchell" mystery so far. Like The Secret Tunnel, it involves a visit by Mitch to his friend-with-benefits from his college days, Harry ("Boy") Morgan. Mitch (originally from the U.S.) lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his lover Vince. Whenever possible, however, he travels to London to visit Boy, his wife Belinda and their children.
As Boy's nickname suggests, he has a boyish spontaneity and an ability to rationalize his own behavior. Boy loves having his arse filled by Mitch, and loves to sleep in Mitch’s arms, but he also enjoys being a husband and father and would be shocked to hear himself defined as (gasp) “a homosexual.” Mitch has occasional pangs of remorse when he thinks of Vince or of Belinda, whom he likes very much. The sexual relationship between Mitch and Boy is an explosive secret.
Mitch arrives to find Boy alone and in shock. Belinda and the children are staying with Vivien, the wife of Boy's client and lover, Frank Bartlett. Frank is dead, covered in blood, in the bathroom of Boy's new house, which was a gift from Frank. Did Frank commit suicide? And if so, why?
At first, Boy doesn't want to tell Mitch anything about the circumstances of Frank's death. Mitch convinces him that he only wants to help. When Boy describes a passionate affair culminating in a wild three-way with an earthy laborer (who is also a hustler), Mitch is taken aback. He tries not to feel betrayed, but he can't help wondering whether he ever meant anything to Boy, and whether Boy has ever told him the whole truth. After all, Boy has been lying to his wife about Mitch for years.
For his own peace of mind, Mitch needs to discover the truth. The case is complicated by the highly illegal status of sex between men at the time. The demimonde of disreputable bars in which men of a certain persuasion risk arrest every time they exchange looks or invite a new acquaintance to join them in the private rooms upstairs is necessarily a world of subterfuge and false fronts. Everyone in that world is a potential blackmailer or blackmail victim. Many of these men are married to women; in some cases, they supplement their meager incomes by selling sexual favors to "toffs," men of means who can afford to pay them. The sellers justify their trade by claiming they don't enjoy it (after all, they aren't perverts), but they need to support their families.
The atmosphere of this apparently archaic sexual "underworld" has survived longer in some actual places than in others. Such conditions undoubtedly still apply in countries where homosexuality is still illegal, sometimes punishable by death. Although this reviewer saw men in full female drag, ignored by passers-by, in the London tube in 1973/74, the atmosphere in the one gay bar in a town on the Canadian prairies into which I “came out” in 1982 was dark, smoky and characterized by general distrust. Sex between men was legalized in Britain and Canada in 1968 – and sex between women has never been illegal in Britain or its former colonies -- but some attitudes die hard. The homophobic villain in A Sticky End has counterparts in the real world, even now.
The men Mitch investigates in every way in this novel come from a range of social classes and have different occupations, but they share a common fear of being discovered and deprived of everything they value, including trust and respect from everyone they know. In this world, love is elusive and a very mixed blessing when it happens. Several men in the shadowy network around Frank Bartlett care about their fellow-outcasts, despite the odds. Some of them are capable of intense loyalty. What Mitch knows about Boy doesn't suggest that he is one of them.
Days pass, and Boy remains in police custody after giving evasive answers to the officers who come to his house to remove the body. There is a real possibility that Boy will be executed by hanging if Mitch doesn't uncover the truth in time. Or if he does.
As in all well-plotted mysteries, the resolution is surprising but foreshadowed by cleverly-placed clues. The conclusion of the story is bittersweet. In some sense, Mitch is relieved when the messy truth is revealed in public, but the "innocent parties" (Vince and Belinda) are both hurt and unsure of whether they can forgive. The next "Mitch Mitchell mystery," assuming there is one, will have to deal with the aftermath of the events in this one. Although these novels can be read as a series, each can be understood on its own, and each is as self-contained as the bathroom (locked from the inside) in which Frank Bartlett died before the beginning of this one.
Whatever else happens in the world of these novels, lust springs up in the unlikeliest places, and no man is immune to the charms of another man. Those reliable facts make these books entertaining and strangely reassuring. Individual men are all too mortal, but it seems there is no way to kill the magnetic joie de vivre that unites the cocks, hairy faces and male backsides of the world.
----------------
Each novel starring medical doctor Mitch Mitchell has a suggestive title (The Back Passage and The Secret Tunnel predate the book under discussion), is set in England in the 1920s, and features a dizzying number of male-on-male sex scenes that are integral to the plot of a brain-teasing whodunit. James Lear is not exactly like the elegant stylists of the period he writes about, but he is as much of a trailblazer as any bohemian artist of the past. James Lear has created a hybrid genre of sexually explicit mysteries, and he writes them with confidence and flair. Not a word or a clue (or a finger, or, ahem, anything else) is out of place.
A Sticky End seems to be the darkest "Mitch Mitchell" mystery so far. Like The Secret Tunnel, it involves a visit by Mitch to his friend-with-benefits from his college days, Harry ("Boy") Morgan. Mitch (originally from the U.S.) lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his lover Vince. Whenever possible, however, he travels to London to visit Boy, his wife Belinda and their children.
As Boy's nickname suggests, he has a boyish spontaneity and an ability to rationalize his own behavior. Boy loves having his arse filled by Mitch, and loves to sleep in Mitch’s arms, but he also enjoys being a husband and father and would be shocked to hear himself defined as (gasp) “a homosexual.” Mitch has occasional pangs of remorse when he thinks of Vince or of Belinda, whom he likes very much. The sexual relationship between Mitch and Boy is an explosive secret.
Mitch arrives to find Boy alone and in shock. Belinda and the children are staying with Vivien, the wife of Boy's client and lover, Frank Bartlett. Frank is dead, covered in blood, in the bathroom of Boy's new house, which was a gift from Frank. Did Frank commit suicide? And if so, why?
At first, Boy doesn't want to tell Mitch anything about the circumstances of Frank's death. Mitch convinces him that he only wants to help. When Boy describes a passionate affair culminating in a wild three-way with an earthy laborer (who is also a hustler), Mitch is taken aback. He tries not to feel betrayed, but he can't help wondering whether he ever meant anything to Boy, and whether Boy has ever told him the whole truth. After all, Boy has been lying to his wife about Mitch for years.
For his own peace of mind, Mitch needs to discover the truth. The case is complicated by the highly illegal status of sex between men at the time. The demimonde of disreputable bars in which men of a certain persuasion risk arrest every time they exchange looks or invite a new acquaintance to join them in the private rooms upstairs is necessarily a world of subterfuge and false fronts. Everyone in that world is a potential blackmailer or blackmail victim. Many of these men are married to women; in some cases, they supplement their meager incomes by selling sexual favors to "toffs," men of means who can afford to pay them. The sellers justify their trade by claiming they don't enjoy it (after all, they aren't perverts), but they need to support their families.
The atmosphere of this apparently archaic sexual "underworld" has survived longer in some actual places than in others. Such conditions undoubtedly still apply in countries where homosexuality is still illegal, sometimes punishable by death. Although this reviewer saw men in full female drag, ignored by passers-by, in the London tube in 1973/74, the atmosphere in the one gay bar in a town on the Canadian prairies into which I “came out” in 1982 was dark, smoky and characterized by general distrust. Sex between men was legalized in Britain and Canada in 1968 – and sex between women has never been illegal in Britain or its former colonies -- but some attitudes die hard. The homophobic villain in A Sticky End has counterparts in the real world, even now.
The men Mitch investigates in every way in this novel come from a range of social classes and have different occupations, but they share a common fear of being discovered and deprived of everything they value, including trust and respect from everyone they know. In this world, love is elusive and a very mixed blessing when it happens. Several men in the shadowy network around Frank Bartlett care about their fellow-outcasts, despite the odds. Some of them are capable of intense loyalty. What Mitch knows about Boy doesn't suggest that he is one of them.
Days pass, and Boy remains in police custody after giving evasive answers to the officers who come to his house to remove the body. There is a real possibility that Boy will be executed by hanging if Mitch doesn't uncover the truth in time. Or if he does.
As in all well-plotted mysteries, the resolution is surprising but foreshadowed by cleverly-placed clues. The conclusion of the story is bittersweet. In some sense, Mitch is relieved when the messy truth is revealed in public, but the "innocent parties" (Vince and Belinda) are both hurt and unsure of whether they can forgive. The next "Mitch Mitchell mystery," assuming there is one, will have to deal with the aftermath of the events in this one. Although these novels can be read as a series, each can be understood on its own, and each is as self-contained as the bathroom (locked from the inside) in which Frank Bartlett died before the beginning of this one.
Whatever else happens in the world of these novels, lust springs up in the unlikeliest places, and no man is immune to the charms of another man. Those reliable facts make these books entertaining and strangely reassuring. Individual men are all too mortal, but it seems there is no way to kill the magnetic joie de vivre that unites the cocks, hairy faces and male backsides of the world.
----------------
July 10, 2022
While the book continues in the same smutty tradition as the others in the series there is much more tonal dissonance here as Mitch has to reckon with his feelings for Boy and for Vince. The beginning and end are fraught with some rather dark feelings that are at odds with the sex-smeared middle portions of the book. I also had issue with the fact that many of the sex scenes featured a rather uncomfortable amount of coercion, taking Mitch from swinging bon vivant to something uncomfortably close to predator.
I feel bad for Vince and hope he finds someone better for him.
I feel bad for Vince and hope he finds someone better for him.
September 5, 2021
A sexual cornucopia from beginning to end. Mitch goes to visit a friend to find Morgan distraught because his lover appears to have taken his life the night before in his bathroom. Police eventually take Morgan in for questioning and Mitch begins to investigate, with every turn leading to another sexual conquest. While it is a complex mystery that Mitch solves, frankly it does drag on into tedium.
June 1, 2022
One and a half stars: Third book featuring Mitch and his insatiable appetite is as disappointing as the second was (The Secret Tunnel.) The mystery is confusing, and there are way too many passages about what could be behind the dastardly goings-on. And why the police let Mitch take over the investigation is a mystery in itself. Even the sex parts drag. First Mitch book (The Back Passage) was fun, though.
September 9, 2019
4.5 stars. So I got sidelined by other books but I finally picked this one back up and finished it. I read along with the audiobook which I don't suggest. The narrator is rather boring. However this series is still just as good. Emotional, hot and the plot very intriguing. Highly recommend. Onto the next.
April 21, 2023
All the Mitch Mitchell novels have clever, solid, intriguing mysteries, but I think A Sticky End is one of James Lear's best. There are some brilliant twists and turns in the story as Mitch tries to unravel Boy Morgan's plight.
Daniel Carter does a gorgeous job with the audio version of all the Mitch Mitchell Mysteries, I love his dry and wity delivery.
Daniel Carter does a gorgeous job with the audio version of all the Mitch Mitchell Mysteries, I love his dry and wity delivery.
February 16, 2020
Whoah! There was almost purpose for every time Mitch got all down and dirty with someone or someoneS. The story was kind of bittersweet, the end of an era kind of feeling. But I'm lucky to know there's another adventure around the corner.
February 22, 2021
I love the Mitch Mitchell mysteries. They are fun, hot, and a little campy. The way Mitch uses sex to move the plot along is genius. Highly recommended if you want hot gay sex scenes mixed in with your Sherlockian mystery!
June 28, 2021
In my opinion this is his most fun mystery. These books are a lark and are meant to make one giggle 😄. However, this one actually had some hot scenes. Usually I find his sex scenes rated r but this book is definitely for adults.
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