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A Dick Hardesty Mystery #9
The Popsicle Tree
#9 in the Dick Hardesty gay mystery series. Dick and Jonathan are left with Jonathan's nephew to raise when the boy's parents are killed in an accident. This is happening when a woman with a small son living in their building is also killed and Dick goes after the perp, especially after someone cuts his brakes lines. It is a time of conflict between awakening parental instincts and Dick's investigative talents.
247 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
55 people want to read
About the author
Dorien Grey
43 books126 followersIf 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 29, 2020
You know, it occurred to me during the last book or two that the biggest mystery in this series is where in the hell it takes place. No really, I don't think it's mentioned once. There are finally some scant geography clues in this one, so I'm going with Somewhere, ND, for the time being. (That's not the name of an actual city or town, btw. We have some weird place names here in the US, so I wanted to make that clear. Though when I got curious and looked up Somewhere, I discovered that there was actually a town called Somewhere at one time in San Bernardino county in California, which is next door to Riverside county, where I thought for a time this series was set.) (And it could have been mentioned in the earlier books, and I've just forgotten. If so, let me know. I made a half-hearted attempt to scan through the first book, because if it's going to be mentioned anywhere, it'd be there, but ebooks aren't as easy to flip through as paperbacks - one of their few disadvantages. But even in the first couple of chapters, it's only referred to as "the city.")
Anyway, getting back to this book - I was stumped. I was working on some half-baked, convoluted theory about whodunit and why, but I was never happy with it. Suffice it to say, when the culprit is revealed, it was a sweet moment. This is easily one of the better mysteries in this series. Certainly loads better than the dumpster fire that was The Hired Man.
On the home front, Jonathan and Dick get a new addition to their family by a series of unfortunate events. It might have been more impactful if . That felt just a little lazy to me. And having Joshua and Jonathan in the same sentences occasionally scrambled my brain. That aside, it impressed me how quickly Dick settled into unclehood and family life. He really has come a long way, even if his crotch still occasionally checks out other guys. 🤣
Anyway, getting back to this book - I was stumped. I was working on some half-baked, convoluted theory about whodunit and why, but I was never happy with it. Suffice it to say, when the culprit is revealed, it was a sweet moment. This is easily one of the better mysteries in this series. Certainly loads better than the dumpster fire that was The Hired Man.
On the home front, Jonathan and Dick get a new addition to their family by a series of unfortunate events. It might have been more impactful if . That felt just a little lazy to me. And having Joshua and Jonathan in the same sentences occasionally scrambled my brain. That aside, it impressed me how quickly Dick settled into unclehood and family life. He really has come a long way, even if his crotch still occasionally checks out other guys. 🤣
November 3, 2020
I really liked reading this series. Kept me entertained.
Read
May 2, 2011I’m too lazy too read all the Dick Hardesty Mystery and so I asked for the books where the relationship between Dick and Jonathan first started and then developed into a family with the addition of Joshua, Jonathan’s little nephew.
At the beginning of this novel, Dick and Jonathan are having a pretty good “bachelor” life together: they travel, they work, they have enough money to spare and enjoy the life; nothing apparently bad, if not that Dick is not really still convinced this is the life he really wants. You can understand his indecision in the way he ogles all the pretty boys he comes upon to, even if he has a good fine boy, Jonathan, at home all for himself. Dick in a way would like to play the field, and the “ifs” are still plenty in his day-to-day routing, even if he doesn’t actually follow any of them.
Then suddenly Jonathan is appointed guardian for his nephew Joshua, a four years old baby; to Jonathan, aside for the pain of losing his brother, is like the realization of his dream: he has always wanted kids, but he was not expecting for his dream to come true, and above all not so soon. But Jonathan also knows that, even if he was joking with Dirk on building a 2.5 kids family in the suburbs, Dirk is not ready, or willing, to be the other half of that dreams.
Dick in a way surprised me: I was not expecting for him to put his feelings for Jonathan in front of his own personal desire. Actually both of them do that, Jonathan not wanting to force Dick, and Dick realizing that Jonathan and Joshua are an item and that if he wants one he has to take also the other. But Dick was even more surprising in “really” accepting Joshua: for Dick is not only doing a favour to Jonathan, he really likes the kid and while it’s clear that Joshua is Jonathan’s responsibility, it’s also clear that Dick is more than willing to share the burden.
In the end, I think that Joshua, instead of destabilizing Dick and Jonathan’s relationship like the most common plot would have implied, helped on the contrary to make it stronger, giving it a chance to last that without Joshua was probably less likely; as in an old fashioned romance, the kid in question worked as cement to the relationship.
Again, the personal subplot for me was more interesting than the mystery main theme; and again I’m not really able to summarize it without spoiling the fun for the mystery lovers. Enough to say that Dorien Grey put together a good numbers of possible suspects and that me, like him, until the end were not sure of who really was the one who killed Jonathan and Dick’s single mom neighbour.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1879194554/?...
At the beginning of this novel, Dick and Jonathan are having a pretty good “bachelor” life together: they travel, they work, they have enough money to spare and enjoy the life; nothing apparently bad, if not that Dick is not really still convinced this is the life he really wants. You can understand his indecision in the way he ogles all the pretty boys he comes upon to, even if he has a good fine boy, Jonathan, at home all for himself. Dick in a way would like to play the field, and the “ifs” are still plenty in his day-to-day routing, even if he doesn’t actually follow any of them.
Then suddenly Jonathan is appointed guardian for his nephew Joshua, a four years old baby; to Jonathan, aside for the pain of losing his brother, is like the realization of his dream: he has always wanted kids, but he was not expecting for his dream to come true, and above all not so soon. But Jonathan also knows that, even if he was joking with Dirk on building a 2.5 kids family in the suburbs, Dirk is not ready, or willing, to be the other half of that dreams.
Dick in a way surprised me: I was not expecting for him to put his feelings for Jonathan in front of his own personal desire. Actually both of them do that, Jonathan not wanting to force Dick, and Dick realizing that Jonathan and Joshua are an item and that if he wants one he has to take also the other. But Dick was even more surprising in “really” accepting Joshua: for Dick is not only doing a favour to Jonathan, he really likes the kid and while it’s clear that Joshua is Jonathan’s responsibility, it’s also clear that Dick is more than willing to share the burden.
In the end, I think that Joshua, instead of destabilizing Dick and Jonathan’s relationship like the most common plot would have implied, helped on the contrary to make it stronger, giving it a chance to last that without Joshua was probably less likely; as in an old fashioned romance, the kid in question worked as cement to the relationship.
Again, the personal subplot for me was more interesting than the mystery main theme; and again I’m not really able to summarize it without spoiling the fun for the mystery lovers. Enough to say that Dorien Grey put together a good numbers of possible suspects and that me, like him, until the end were not sure of who really was the one who killed Jonathan and Dick’s single mom neighbour.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1879194554/?...
July 22, 2012
3,5 stars rounded out to 4 stars. It's a good, solid Dick Hardesty novel. An important one in the series since it's the turning point where Jonathan, Dirk become through life's tragedy a family over night.
That road is not perfect and one of the strong part of the book is Dirk, Jonathan and Joshua navigating becoming a family. Kid!fic is never easy to pull off but Dorien Grey does it. The reader is pulled into the journey of the characters and how Hardesty's latest case mirrors his private life with very different outcome. The mystery is tight and plausible and you don't feel cheated at the reveal. Also Hardesty plays it like an adult/family man and the professional he is, which is to say he doesn't pull off an idiot's move hoping to be on top of the villain in the end. He plays is smart and it's refreshing to read.
That road is not perfect and one of the strong part of the book is Dirk, Jonathan and Joshua navigating becoming a family. Kid!fic is never easy to pull off but Dorien Grey does it. The reader is pulled into the journey of the characters and how Hardesty's latest case mirrors his private life with very different outcome. The mystery is tight and plausible and you don't feel cheated at the reveal. Also Hardesty plays it like an adult/family man and the professional he is, which is to say he doesn't pull off an idiot's move hoping to be on top of the villain in the end. He plays is smart and it's refreshing to read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews