First Down

by J.J. Greene

When a beautiful woman offers her a secret, Detective Rynn Callahan knows to be wary. But the information sports agent Toni Davis gives her casts a completely new light on a murder that has had Rynn baffled. The dead man had a boyfriend—one of Toni’s NFL clients.

Professional football is driven by all the motives for murder, Rynn soon realizes. Huge contracts drive competitive jealousy between owners and players. Winning is everything. Following up on Toni’s lead, Rynn’s suggestion that at least one player in the League is gay is met with the utmost hostility from every quarter. Toni, however, is anything but hostile, and the two women find they have far more in common than a dead body.

But one dead body becomes two, and the person connecting both victims is Toni. Rynn finds herself drawn into a cat-and-mouse game she must win if she wants to keep Toni—and herself—alive.

Genres: Lesbian, Crime, Sports, LGBT

264 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 15, 2013

About the author

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

JJ Greene holds a Master’s degree in structural engineering, but now that she’s achieved her dream of becoming a published author, she might next tackle backpacking through Europe. She lives in Colorado with a Chihuahua and two cats.

Reviews

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Well developed romance, sports, mystery; if you throw some animals in there you've got the perfect lesfic novel.

[Pin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay romance. Very predictable mystery.

[Lissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rynn Callahan is a detective who is currently investigating the death of Patrick Boden. Toni Davis is a sports agent who represents Tommy Rocker, the star of the Chicago Bears, and also Patrick's partner (although completely in the closet). There's a spark between to the two women, which only intensifies as they are drawn deeper into the mystery surrounding Patrick's death - and the death of others, who also seem to be the secret lovers of men in the NFL.

The book is really probably a 2.5 star read, but using Goodreads' rating system, I would definitely rate this book as "it was okay." I'm a huge football fan, and I was hoping for more football in the story. Toni and Rynn do watch the occasional football game, even attending a live one, and a little bit of football talk is sprinkled throughout the book, but that's about it. I was hoping for a lot more atmosphere.

I liked the character of Rynn okay, but I really couldn't stand the character of Toni. Her friendship with Tommy Rocker felt forced, and she just didn't feel like an authentic person to me. The rest of the characters were fairly two-dimensional; even Pearson, Rynn's new partner at the station, felt rather cardboard.

And the big "mystery" was horrible. As soon as the character who was responsible for the murders was introduced in the story, I knew it was probably that person who was committing the crimes. That character was completely two-dimensional and just ridiculous. It turns out to be an owner's wife, who is killing the gay lovers of football players to "eradicate the sin" from the NFL. Because, you know, the myriad reasons that NFL players are arrested every season pale in comparison to two men loving one another. Obviously. Oh, and her dad left her and her mom when she was young, so it's kind of a misplaced revenge thing too. And the big revealing speech at the end is just...laughably bad. Seriously. Ugh.

[Laydin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book when checking out Bella Books offerings. This was a "try this new author" selection. I'm so glad I did!