The Role Players

A Dick Hardesty Mystery #8

by Dorien Grey

Dick and his lover, Jonathan, finally manage to take a holiday, and it is, to some extent, a sentimental journey for Dick -- it is to New York City, the site of former adventures, and where his former lover is now settled in with a new lover, Max, who happens to be involved in a theatre company. So Dick and Jonathan fly in for opening night, but also arrive soon after one of the original cast is murdered -- gunned down with a shot in the back, and ending up face down in a car park. It seems Dick can't even have a holiday without playing his usual role of sleuth, and there is also a different kind of role playing as well...

Genres: Mystery, M M Romance, LGBT, Fiction, Suspense, Contemporary

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

If it is possible to have a split personality without being schizophrenic, Dorien Grey qualifies. When long-time book and magazine editor Roger Margason chose the pseudonym “Dorien Grey” for his first book, it set off a chain of circumstances which has led to the comfortable division of labor and responsibility. Roger has charge of day-to-day existence, freeing Dorien—with the help of Roger’s fingers—to write. It has reached the point where Roger merely sits back and reads the stories Dorien brings forth on the computer screen.

It’s not as though Roger has not had an uninteresting life of his own. Two years into college, he left to join the Naval Aviation Cadet program. Washing out after a year, he spent the rest of his brief military career on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean at the height of the cold war. The journal he kept of his time in the military, in the form of letters home, honed his writing skills and provided him with a wealth of experiences to draw from in his future writing. These letters will be appearing in book form shortly.

Returning to Northern Illinois University after service, he graduated with a B.A. in English, and embarked on a series of jobs which worked him into the editing field. While working for a Los Angeles publishing house, he was instrumental in establishing a division exclusively for the publication of gay paperbacks and magazines, of which he became editor. He moved on to edit a leading L.A. based international gay men's magazine.

Tiring of earthquakes, brush fires, mud slides, and riots, he returned to the Midwest, where Dorien emerged, full-blown, like Venus from the sea. They’ve been inseparable (and interchangeable) ever since.

He . . . and Dorien of course…moved back to Chicago in 2006, where they now devote full time to writing. After having published fourteen books in the popular Dick Hardesty Mystery series, four books in the Elliott Smith (paranormal) Mystery series, and the stand-alone western/romance/adventure novel, Calico, he is busily at work on yet another Dick Hardesty mystery.

But for a greater insight into the "real person" behind Dorien Grey, the curious are invited to check out his website (http://www.doriengrey.com), where you can read the first chapter of any or all of his books for free, and his various blogs: Dorien Grey and Me (http://www.doriengreyandme.com) and A Life in Photos (http://www.doriengreyphotolife.blogsp...) among them.

Dorien passed away on November 1, 2015.

Reviews

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Dick and Jonathan go on vacation in NYC to visit friends. But this is a mystery series, so of course, Dick's vacation ends up being a working vacation.

The mystery was interesting and I think it only suffered from my having read of a similar predatory character in the last Donald Strachey book I just read a week ago. Another guy who likes to toy with the emotions of his hookups and dumps them cold, only this guy is the victim. And the theater setting was a little uninspired after Breaking Point. But I was constantly changing my opinion on who the whodunit was and had it wrong right up to the reveal. So points for that.

I still adore Dick's and Jonathan's relationship, and getting to spend some time with Chris and Max was nice too. Jonathan is just a ray of sunshine and is so enthusiastic about everything. He'd absolutely exhaust me IRL, not to mention break my wallet trying to keep him fed, but he's a fun character and balances out Dick perfectly, and vice versa.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked reading this series. Kept me entertained.

[Tessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for a nice summer reading and found the Dick Hardesty series. Here, I am at the 8th volume and I still like them. No big literature, but a great reading.
Dick Hardesty is a gay PI and his cases mix nicely with his private life. It follows the same bunch of guys and it is fun to see the evolution. They all have become sort of family.
Well, most of the guys are extremely handsome, and him discussing their merits with his private parts is quite funny (hey, I admitted that it is no big litterature). Mostly, the gays are the good ones...
For this volume, Dick and his boyfriend Jonathan visit friends in New York and need to solve a case. It is one of the weaker installments, I have to admit. In particular, as Jonathan is getting on my nerves. I have more and more the feeling of Dick robbing a cradle here.
Why do I bother to write something? Because I felt a cold shiver down my spine: the series is taking place in a past without cell phones, internet. But when the World trade center was mentioned and one guy mentioned that his company was buying office space in the 48th floor... Feels strange.

[Angel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the eighth book in the Dick Hardesty series that I’ve read and it may well be my last. What I originally liked about the first Hardesty books is how well they evoked the late 70’s to early 80’s time period. That they’re like the gay version of the straight, old fashion private detective novels; where the main character is a ladies’ man, has plenty of sex and still finds time to solve the crime.
By the 6th book that all changes, especially with the introduction of the character Jonathan, Dick’s twink “himbo” toy boy. Jonathan’s dumb blonde routine is incredibly annoying and his relationship with Dick adds nothing to the stories.
Sad, cause I really had high hopes for the series and like Dorien Grey as a writer.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorien Grey's Dick Hardesty mysteries continue in this, the eighth of the series and, as always, I find myself intrigued and utterly caught up in another of Dick's cases.

I love not only the mystery, but the elements of Dick's personal life. Jonathan is totally charming and it's nice to get to know more of Dick's and Jonathan's friends. Also very nice to see that Chris, whom we first met in Grey's first Dick Hardesty mystery, The Butcher's Son is happy and doing well.

[Writerlibrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A transitory novel in this really good series. Jonathan and Dick travel to New York to visit friends and Dick ends up with a case. It read like a travel log with a side dish of mystery. Not the worst but not the best of the series. Unlike other novels in the series this one had red herrings that ended up not being so red.

Jonathan and Dick are still very cute and cuddly. One of the best things about the series. Looking forward to the next novel.

[Eric L Aust · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

Another interesting story I was guessing to the end. It was well thought out and Jonathon has gotten to be a character in his own right. Interested to read the next. So far every book was a hit. Well worth the read.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't like this one as much but still a great story. Reading about Jonathan's WTC visit was bitter sweet and a tearful moment in time.