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Quick Mysteries #1
B. Quick
William Shakespeare Yates, English professor and not-quite-recovering alcoholic, just wants some peace. Lythia Springs, Colorado, nestled comfortably far enough from the ski resorts yet close enough to nowhere, has so far managed to avoid turning into the hustling, bustling tourist traps dotting the state. Even Bile College downtown - the city's bid for revitalization fifty years ago - hasn't managed to attract a rowdy crowd. But Bill's not getting off that easily. The dean hates him, he can't find that special someone (despite his diligent attempts in every bar from Lythia to nearby Cowpattie), his MG convertible is on the brink of total collapse - and someone has just tossed a body into the Nugget River right in front of him. He doesn't know it yet, but Bill's rash decision to jump in after the body will net him more than just a sopping wet, unconscious, but still alive Brian Quick, blond Adonis and Bile student featured heavily in Bill's fantasies. Then another student is found hacked up with an ax, and rumors of drug trafficking start flying. And both B. Quick and an internationally renowned artist living in town seem intent on winning Bill's romantic affections. Bill quickly finds himself caught in someone else's intricately drawn net, and he's looking like the perfect patsy for murder. C. S. Laurel lives in Colorado Springs, in a home ruled by multiple cats kind enough to allow humans to share the accommodations.
325 pages, Hardcover
First published November 2, 2005
7 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
September 3, 2011
The romance was understated and cute; the main protagonist misunderstands what's going on with his love interest a lot, but you always know they'll have at least a HFN. No sexual content depicted at all: kissing only. The mystery is really enjoyable. The writing is actually GOOD; although there are a few typos this is a book which comes across as wry, witty and engaging. Currently it's free on Kindle, but this was good enough it's worth paying for (especially as it's a decent length). Definitely recommended.
November 26, 2014
This was actually pretty cute. I'm not sure what I expected, since i had never read anything by this author before, but I will now. The story, the writing, and the characters are funny and intriguing. If you're looking for steamy, this isn't the book for it (the relationship factor doesn't exactly take a back seat to the mystery, but the romance is more sweet than erotic. IOW, no sex scenes) I thought the mystery and the miriod of side characters were very well thought out.
My only one (very small) complaint: Bills internal monologues about the murder case or his own insecurities ran a bit long a couple times, imho, only because who would stand there thinking for 5 minutes (3 or 4+ paragraphs) when you have someone standing in front of you waiting for a response? That could just be me though and my strange pet peaves. I don't mind it anywhere else in a book, but it drives me nuts in the middle of a dialogue. I guess it also gives him that 'absent minded, nutty professor side' though.
My only one (very small) complaint: Bills internal monologues about the murder case or his own insecurities ran a bit long a couple times, imho, only because who would stand there thinking for 5 minutes (3 or 4+ paragraphs) when you have someone standing in front of you waiting for a response? That could just be me though and my strange pet peaves. I don't mind it anywhere else in a book, but it drives me nuts in the middle of a dialogue. I guess it also gives him that 'absent minded, nutty professor side' though.
March 3, 2014
College professor Bill Yates is on his way home after being stood up on Halloween. Having wallowed in his sorrows just a bit at the bar (the only gay bar in the area), he opted to take some backroads and drive slowly, not entirely certain he should be on the road at all. But when he passes someone stopped on the bridge and is fairly certain he sees them throw something over the edge into the river below before driving off, he can't help stopping to see what it is. And with that, he's pulled into adventure and a murder mystery like nothing the little town of Lythia has ever seen.
I enjoy a good mystery, especially when it's one that keeps me guessing and doesn't leave me with everything figured out in the first half of the book. And this one definitely met that criterion. Also, the cast of characters has a level of intrigue, as does learning how everyone in the small town of Lythia seems to be connected. The m/m romance elements ebb and flow a bit throughout the story, and serve as a nice background or complement to the main mystery in a way that just feels right on so many levels. Basically, the main story seems to be the mystery and C.S. Laurel wisely didn't try to make the romance be the driver (something I see so often in m/m stories - the author figures that's why the reader picked up the book, so they assume it needs to be the most prominent aspect of the story), but treated it as just another aspect of the characters lives. Making it all have a level of realism that helped support the main plot.
Definitely recommend this one. Even if you're not an m/m person, I think you might like it, since the mystery is what holds the plot here.
I enjoy a good mystery, especially when it's one that keeps me guessing and doesn't leave me with everything figured out in the first half of the book. And this one definitely met that criterion. Also, the cast of characters has a level of intrigue, as does learning how everyone in the small town of Lythia seems to be connected. The m/m romance elements ebb and flow a bit throughout the story, and serve as a nice background or complement to the main mystery in a way that just feels right on so many levels. Basically, the main story seems to be the mystery and C.S. Laurel wisely didn't try to make the romance be the driver (something I see so often in m/m stories - the author figures that's why the reader picked up the book, so they assume it needs to be the most prominent aspect of the story), but treated it as just another aspect of the characters lives. Making it all have a level of realism that helped support the main plot.
Definitely recommend this one. Even if you're not an m/m person, I think you might like it, since the mystery is what holds the plot here.
September 25, 2011
I enjoyed this. It was goofy and over the top, but really fun. Professor Bill Yates is the sort of person who would drive you crazy in real life but is entertaining to read about. He is irrational and absent minded. He forgets what happened two minutes ago, he mistakes what he thinks for what happened and imagines the most lurid explanations for things and then forgets they aren't true. At one point he thinks to himself that if he and Brian could sit down and consider the events carefully for a few minutes they could figure them out. And this is funny, because that's never going to happen.
Bill and Brian are a good pair because they are both crazy enough for anything. They take turns taking stupid chances. I have a distaste for TSTL (too stupid to live) detectives in mysteries, but these guys aren't detectives, and TSTL is in their DNA. I was rooting form them to get together because they were such a match and besides, no one else deserved their wackiness.
The mystery was of a piece with this mood. Each character was more suspicious than the last, and the MC's were no help at all in eliminating anyone. Nor was the sole semi-competent cop, since he was fixated on the solution he wanted and the MC's were hiding all the evidence from him. I did suspect the eventual solution, but since I also suspected about five other people, that isn't saying much.
Note: this one is free at Amazon and Smashwords.
Bill and Brian are a good pair because they are both crazy enough for anything. They take turns taking stupid chances. I have a distaste for TSTL (too stupid to live) detectives in mysteries, but these guys aren't detectives, and TSTL is in their DNA. I was rooting form them to get together because they were such a match and besides, no one else deserved their wackiness.
The mystery was of a piece with this mood. Each character was more suspicious than the last, and the MC's were no help at all in eliminating anyone. Nor was the sole semi-competent cop, since he was fixated on the solution he wanted and the MC's were hiding all the evidence from him. I did suspect the eventual solution, but since I also suspected about five other people, that isn't saying much.
Note: this one is free at Amazon and Smashwords.
December 3, 2016
If one expects a bit of gay fluff (erotic or otherwise), one may be disappointed, but definitely not with this deftly plotted and narrated story by C.S. Laurel. What is provided, is completely not what I expected, but what an entertaining exploration this proved to be!
Middle-aged, gay, almost closeted English professor Bill Yates teaches at a tiny college in a slightly larger town. He goes to clubs elsewhere, which is why he arrives back in town in the small hours of the morning after Hallowe'en, to see someone dumping a body into an icy river. The body proves to be alive when Bill pulls it from the river; it belongs to one of his students, the titular B. (Brian) Quick. While Bill lusts after Brian, he cannot be sure of whether his feeling is reciprocated until the attempted murder, the actual murder (Brian's room mate) and network of blackmail is solved.
Bill Yates is an erudite narrator with a wry sense of humour. One of the most fascinating lines of wit in the story is the messages on his coffee cups.
Although boy gets boy in the end (come on - that's not a spoiler alert, not in this genre!), there is nothing graphic. Laurel's touch remains light and fun - an entertaining and pleasant mystery for a bit of relaxation.
Laurel bied veel meer as sommer net 'n verhaal van gay lus en liefde: die eerstepersoonsverteller moet 'n moord, poging tot moord en afpersing probeer oplos om 'n verhouding te bewerkstellig. Die toon is lig en tong-innie-kies - 'n vakansie vir die brein!
Middle-aged, gay, almost closeted English professor Bill Yates teaches at a tiny college in a slightly larger town. He goes to clubs elsewhere, which is why he arrives back in town in the small hours of the morning after Hallowe'en, to see someone dumping a body into an icy river. The body proves to be alive when Bill pulls it from the river; it belongs to one of his students, the titular B. (Brian) Quick. While Bill lusts after Brian, he cannot be sure of whether his feeling is reciprocated until the attempted murder, the actual murder (Brian's room mate) and network of blackmail is solved.
Bill Yates is an erudite narrator with a wry sense of humour. One of the most fascinating lines of wit in the story is the messages on his coffee cups.
Although boy gets boy in the end (come on - that's not a spoiler alert, not in this genre!), there is nothing graphic. Laurel's touch remains light and fun - an entertaining and pleasant mystery for a bit of relaxation.
Laurel bied veel meer as sommer net 'n verhaal van gay lus en liefde: die eerstepersoonsverteller moet 'n moord, poging tot moord en afpersing probeer oplos om 'n verhouding te bewerkstellig. Die toon is lig en tong-innie-kies - 'n vakansie vir die brein!
May 19, 2020
Well done by an author who is new to me. I enjoyed the comic head musings that went on in Bill's brain. Quirky characters that fit together well kept this fun mystery going.
February 10, 2020
Stood up, mildy hungover and depressed whilst driving home through the back roads from an out-of-town gay bar night-out, semi-closeted middle-aged College Professor Bill Shakespeare Yates (with such a name, of course he teaches literature) … witnesses a body being thrown over a river. He unthinkingly dives in to save the victim (or retrieve the body) and lo – the first meeting between himself and one slim, tall, green eyed blonde nineteen year old Brian Quick. Who threw the unconscious and drugged Brian over the bridge and why? Who called the local police to pin Brian’s murder attempt on Bill himself? Then Brian’s housemate turns up dismembered in that same river….
Fighting all manner of sane reasons as to why he should not follow up on the mutual attraction between himself and Brian (teacher-pupil conflict of interest, the significant age gap between the pair, the possibility that Brian could be part of the whole murder set-up himself), Bill reluctantly assists Brian with following-up clues that lead to darker doings happening to students and teachers in that small college-town; suspects and victims appear closer to Bill than even he can imagine!
I have to admit Bill’s wry and quirky ‘voice’ took a little getting used to at first, but I settled down to enjoy the written action once past the novel’s quarter-mark. I think the author’s intention is to set up Bill to play an older and supposedly worldlier “Watson” to Brian’s supposedly young and dashing “Sherlock” – hence the series being entitled Quick Mysteries; the action is told from Bill’s POV – and we get significant back history to Bill – his struggle for identity, professional validation, personal fulfilment, his deep romantic yearnings and abject failures, his internal and professional conflict over whether to accept or pursue the budding relationship between himself and Brian. I became quite invested in (and fond of) both Bill and Brian.
Laurel provides enough red-herrings and suspects to keep the action-plot moving along; Tony, the head of law enforcement is suitably antagonistic at the start but ends up being something else altogether. Oh – for readers who don’t like their gay whodunnits overwhelmed by man-on-man sex action – this book is for you! The romantic tension-attraction between the MCs is entirely satisfactory IMO. I’d give this book another solid 4-star rating, but I would caution readers to be prepared to push through the first third of the novel before things significantly pick up – it was well worth reading by the end.
I've also read the sequel Quicksand and a short novella Quick Change Artist both of which appear only to be available from Naked Reader Press. But they were well worth the hunt and read. I'm truly hoping for more titles in this series.
Fighting all manner of sane reasons as to why he should not follow up on the mutual attraction between himself and Brian (teacher-pupil conflict of interest, the significant age gap between the pair, the possibility that Brian could be part of the whole murder set-up himself), Bill reluctantly assists Brian with following-up clues that lead to darker doings happening to students and teachers in that small college-town; suspects and victims appear closer to Bill than even he can imagine!
I have to admit Bill’s wry and quirky ‘voice’ took a little getting used to at first, but I settled down to enjoy the written action once past the novel’s quarter-mark. I think the author’s intention is to set up Bill to play an older and supposedly worldlier “Watson” to Brian’s supposedly young and dashing “Sherlock” – hence the series being entitled Quick Mysteries; the action is told from Bill’s POV – and we get significant back history to Bill – his struggle for identity, professional validation, personal fulfilment, his deep romantic yearnings and abject failures, his internal and professional conflict over whether to accept or pursue the budding relationship between himself and Brian. I became quite invested in (and fond of) both Bill and Brian.
Laurel provides enough red-herrings and suspects to keep the action-plot moving along; Tony, the head of law enforcement is suitably antagonistic at the start but ends up being something else altogether. Oh – for readers who don’t like their gay whodunnits overwhelmed by man-on-man sex action – this book is for you! The romantic tension-attraction between the MCs is entirely satisfactory IMO. I’d give this book another solid 4-star rating, but I would caution readers to be prepared to push through the first third of the novel before things significantly pick up – it was well worth reading by the end.
I've also read the sequel Quicksand and a short novella Quick Change Artist both of which appear only to be available from Naked Reader Press. But they were well worth the hunt and read. I'm truly hoping for more titles in this series.
September 23, 2011
This book was a great read. Its a homo-erotic twin peaks in the colorado mountains. The narrative lends itself well the noir-ish feel of the story. I hope to see another offering from the author soon. The characters were engaging, the setting was believable (if slightly ... askew), and the mystery both drove the story and got lost in it. Peaks, noir, engaging, mystery... yeah, i think that wraps up B. Quick.
November 3, 2011
This funny mystery amused me and kept my interest all the way through. The narrator is completely goofy, insecure, nearly nonsensical, and strangely appealing: the eccentric college professor ramped way up. (A few grammatical errors in the narrator's internal monologue, so wrong for an English professor, did jar one out of the book occasionally.) The narrator's voice: Philip Marlowe crossed with Hunter S. Thompson crossed with Miss Marple? :) No, that's not it, but it was fun to read.
September 4, 2011
could not finish, the writing was just not my cup of tea. It felt messy and everywhere at once, I couldn't concentrate on what was actually going on because of the stream of conscience thoughts of the main character. Maybe if it wasn't written in first person POV, I usually don't mind it, but in this case, I did.
September 11, 2011
The first chapter was a great set up for the main character and the plot, but then the next two chapters were a really lame attempt at humor (I think that's what the author was going for), but were just confusing and annoying. After that, things settle down and it turns into a neat little mystery with a side of romance.
January 16, 2012
I liked the story and would read other writings from the author. I was intrigued by the description of the protagonist as being middle-aged because he is described at the being 3 months short of his 30th birthday. 30 is not middle age to me! Regardless of that, the character is less mature than the 19-year old Brian, who is a paragon. It's a good light mystery story
June 9, 2012
Exactly halfway through. My impression so far is that this plot is like a bunny. On steroids. But the wiring is funny. The MCs inner monologues are hilarious. Though it is difficult trying to flow the plot. Almost makes you want to read plot-less Joyee Flynn novel. Almost but not quite :)
Finished. A strong 4 stars!
Finished. A strong 4 stars!
September 16, 2012
OMG! I couldn't put it down. Granted there were a few misspellings, some words missing and wrong words used, but oh man was this so good. It had my mind going. Trying to think who did it. I never thought it would turn out to be who it was. Although Elderman did start acting weird there. But I would so recommend this book.
October 31, 2011
A little confusing, and I wonder why the obvious clue wasn't checked out from the start. Otherwise a great story. I enjoy M/M fiction, especially with very little sex.
October 16, 2012
For a mm romance this just didn't do much for me as a reader. The characters weren't relatable.
January 17, 2012
I absolutely loved this story!
June 2, 2012
Quirky mystery with astonishingly clueless protagonist. Astonishingly. So if that's to your taste, you'll love this.
August 20, 2014
If you haven't picked up this book yet, you really should. A gripping murder mystery and plenty of humor, I found myself laughing out loud at parts, both times that I've read it.
November 21, 2012
Good, well paced, well written and lots of fun--- as always.
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November 5, 2014Free download on Amazon. Figured I would add it to my queue.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews