Male/Male Mystery and Suspense Box Set: 6 Novellas

by Josh Lanyon, Jason Clarke (Narrator), Chris Gebauer (Narrator)

24 hrs 32 min

An incredible savings. This box set contains six complete bestselling mystery and suspense novellas by one of the leading authors of Male/Male crime and mystery fiction.


The Dark Horse - Paul Hammond is dead. That’s what tough and sexy LAPD Detective Daniel Moran tells his lover, Hollywood actor Sean Fairchild—and Sean wants to believe him, but what about those threatening postcards in Hammond’s handwriting?


A Vintage Affair - Somewhere in the cobwebbed cellar of the decrepit antebellum mansion known as Ballineen are the legendary Lee bottles—and Austin Gillespie is there to find them. What he finds is the dashing and disturbing Jeff Brady.


Blood Red Butterfly - Despite falling in love with aloof manga artist Kai Tashiro, Homicide Detective Ryo Miller is determined to break the alibi Kai is supplying his murderous boyfriend—even if it means breaking Kai with it.


Don’t Look Back - Peter Killian, curator at Constantine House in Los Angeles, wakes in the hospital to find himself accused of stealing a Tenth Century Chinese sculpture.


Lovers and Other Strangers - Recovering from a near fatal accident, artist Finn Barret returns to Seal Island in Maine only to learn his twin brother has been missing for three years.


Cards on the Table - Fifty years ago a glamorous Hollywood party ended in murder—the only clue a bloody Tarot card. Timothy North is trying to find out what happened that long ago summer’s night.

Genres: M M Romance, Audiobook, Mystery, Romance, Mystery Thriller, Anthologies, Contemporary

Audiobook

First published June 30, 2014

About the author

Author of 100+ titles of Gay Mystery and M/M Romance, Josh Lanyon has built her literary legacy on twisty mystery, kickass adventure, and unapologetic man-on-man romance.

Her work has been translated into twelve languages. The FBI thriller Fair Game was the first Male/Male title to be published by Italy’s Harlequin Mondadori and Stranger on the Shore (Harper Collins Italia) was the first M/M title to be published in print. In 2016 Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan’s annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place on the list). The Adrien English series was awarded the All-Time Favorite Couple by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group. In 2019, Fatal Shadows became the first LGBTQ mobile game created by Moments: Choose Your Story.

She’s an EPIC Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist (twice for Gay Mystery), an Edgar nominee, and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads All Time Favorite M/M Author award.

Josh is married and lives in Southern California with her irascible husband, two adorable dogs, a small garden, and an ever-expanding library of vintage mystery destined to eventually crush them all beneath its weight.


Find other Josh Lanyon titles at www.joshlanyon.com
Follow Josh on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

Reviews

[Josy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dark Horse narrated by Jason Clarke: 4 stars
A Vintage Affair narrated by Chris Gebauer: 3.5 stars
Blood Red Butterfly narrated by Lance Greenfield: 3.5 stars
Don't Look Back narrated by Lance Greenfield: 4.5 stars
Lovers and Other Strangers narrated by Jason Clarke: 4.5 stars
Cards on the Table narrated by Jason Clarke: 4.5 stars

Some great mysteries performed by three very good narrators.

[LenaRibka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible


Even if I didn't like all the novels the same, the whole collection is wonderful, and I can't recommend this audio book highly enough.

Different narrators, different stories, different couples that can satisfy every taste and every lover of MM Romance genre and without any doubt, A MUST LISTEN TO for every fan of Josh Lanyon.

The Dark Horse: Rounded up to

The story: Nice, typical JL MM Romance. But I found there were too much romantic sex in relation to the length of the plot for my liking. Maybe because I didn't see how the two came together, but was introduced to them already as a couple.3 stars.

The narrator: EXCELLENT. Jason Clarke is a perfect voice for any MM Romance, but he is born to narrate JL books. 5 stars.

A Vintage Affair:

A Vintage Affair has everything I like: an interesting setting, a mystery that has to do with a wine cellar and a wine connoisseur, a private investigator in the closet, complicated family stories and a nice chemistry. But it is also has a menage scene - a m/f/m menage sex scene that took me by surprise and left an unpleasant aftertaste. My respect for one of the MCs went down to almost zero. By all my compassion for his issue with his own sexuality what he did to Austin was disgusting. It was also hard to accept all his numerous I-am-so-sorry at the end.
I still give it 3 stars, because I enjoyed the audio version and the story itself (except the scene), even if it took me some time at the beginning to get used to the narrator's voice.
Chris Gebauer sounds pretty much as a female. I'm just not a fan of a female narrating.

Blood Red Butterfly:

It was like reading manga comic. If it was the author's goal, then she succeeded in it.
I doubt I could have enjoyed if I had read it and not listened to it.
But Lance Greenfield has brought the best out of it.

Don't Look Back:

I read this novel three years ago, and an audio version narrated by Lance Greenfield was a wonderful reminder of it.

Lovers and Other Strangers:

My review.

Cards on the Table:

Jake/Timothy reminded me of Jack/Adrien.

Detective Jake Brady and Timothy North, a former journalist with health problems, who writes his debut novel about an unsolved murder case of fifty years ago. It looks like after so many years, there are still people alive who don't have any interest that the truth comes to light.

I enjoyed this short novel a lot. I found mystery as well as a romance part very entertaining.

I didn't enjoy Jason Clarke narrating in Lovers and Other Strangers, but he was a perfect narrator for this one.

[Amy Spector · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection.

A Vintage Affair was a little weaker than most Lanyon, not quite a mystery, not quite a romance. It played with both a little and offered a shaky HFN. I would have liked to have had the mystery the focus of the story. The sex an intentionally uncomfortable (almost unwanted) m/m/f threw the story out of romance and it needed something more solid than what was offered up, to land on. Letting the reader be part of the mystery solving would have gone a long way to amping up the rating for me.

Still LOVE, LOVE, LOVE The Dark Horse, Lovers and Other Strangers and Cards on the Table.

The Dark Horse 5-Stars
A Vintage Affair 3.5-Stars
Blood Red Butterfly 4-Stars
Don't Look Back - 5-Stars
Lovers and Other Strangers 5-Stars
Cards on the Table 5-Stars

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much goodness here...

It's been absolutely ages since I've read these stories but in the true test of time they are every bit as enjoyable now as I remember them being and just as enjoyable to hear on audio as reading the stories were the first time around.

Josh Lanyon was one of the first authors that I discovered when I initially stuck my nose into the world of m/m stories and I've loved everything that I've ever read by this author. From the first Adrien English until this collection of stories this author has not failed to give me hours of enjoyable reading. As with most I've enjoyed some books more than others but for the most part this author has always given me stories that were 4 and 5 star reads.

With 6 different standalone stories to enjoy, even though I've read them all I loved the variety that this collection offered and while I'm not going to take the time to review each story separately I will say that 'Lovers and Other Strangers' along with 'Cards On The Table' are my absolute favorites. Also while 'The Dark Horse' works as a standalone there is a follow-up story that readers can enjoy called 'The White Knight'.

So just to give a bit of a frame of reference as to how I rated these books I'm going to list each story with the narrators name and my individual rating for the story...

The Dark Horse......................4 stars.........Jason Clarke, narrator
A Vintage Affair.......................5 stars.........Chris Gebauer, narrator
Blood Red Butterfly.................5 stars.........Lance Greefield, narrator
Don't Look Back......................4 stars.........Lance Greenfield, narrator
Lovers and Other Strangers....5 stars........Jason Clarke, narrator
Cards On the Table.................5 stars........Jason Clarke, narrator

On a side note some of these stories have been recorded before by other narrators...

Dark Horse, White Knight, narrated by Derrick McClain
A Vintage Affair, narrated by Paul S. Fleschner
Blood Red Butterfly - only on this audio collection
Don't Look Back, narrated by Graham Halstead
Lovers and Other Strangers - only on this audio collection
Cards on the Table - narrated by Sean Crisden

While I have to admit I am a big fan of Sean Crisden, I'm also more than happy to say that Jason Clarke's narration for 'Cards on the Table' was well done and overall I'm looking forward to enjoying all of these stories again...in the near future. I would have gone back to the beginning as soon as I got done the first time but some times like it or not we all need to do a bit of adulting in the real world...ok, that's code talk for a have a home to decorate for the holidays.

So all in all this one was a really enjoyable collection of Josh Lanyon stories that even from a purely practical viewpoint for what amounts to the price of maybe 3 of the stories you can get 6 and 2 of them are only available in this collection...it's a BOGO Sale (Buy one, get one) ok, I've done a bit of pimping here but it's only because I enjoyed these stories so much, that I want to encourage everyone to enjoy them as well.

Now, just one last thing to say and that's a really big and sincere thank you to my awesome cyper child, Josy who so sweetly gifted me with this collection of stories...I really loved these stories and I know I'll be listening to them again and again.

[Beebs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of six novellas, a great mix of stories to suit everyone.

[Shelba]

I really liked the Dark Horse narration (Jason Clarke). I wish White Knight was included in this collection, but since it isn’t, I hope the Dark Horse, White Knight narration is just as good as this one.

I skipped a Vintage Affair. I recall hating *how* the MMF scene happened in this book, and that paired with all those OTT Southern accents wouldn’t have made for an enjoyable re-read.

Blood Red Butterfly is probably my least favourite book that I’ve read from Lanyon. This narration definitely doesn’t make it more enjoyable. The narrator should almost be embarrassed by the pronunciation of some of the Japanese words… some were so far off I barely recognized them. Also, I don’t know what Kai’s accent was supposed to be, but it was odd.

So, I was shocked that Don’t Look Back has the same narrator (Lance Greenfield). I had pretty much thought he would be landing on my DNL list after Blood Red Butterfly, but I really liked his narration for this one. Execution stayed.

Lovers and Other Strangers (Jason Clarke) was great. It’s been ages since I read this one and I don’t believe I ever re-read it until now.

Cards on the Table (Jason Clarke) again was enjoyable.

So, I got to re-enjoy some Lanyon and found a narrator I for sure enjoy and two that I’d be willing to give another chance to, granted they don’t do accents lol

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I very much liked all the stories and most of the narrators were very good. However, I discovered that I already own more than half the stories. And the title of this collection? Awful and completely unimaginative.

[Trio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic selection, narrated by three great ones - Chris Gebauer, Jason Clarke, and Lance Greenfield, just excellent!

[Kassu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of novellas - except for the second one, I'll pretend The White Knight was there instead.

The Dark Horse - 4/5

Tells the story of an actor who has been stalked. The stalker should be dead but threatening messages continue. There's a budding relationship with his bodyguard. MC with traumatic past and lots of neurotic thoughts and lots of arguing with the love interest. But it's a good story. And even better with The White Knight, which tells a story around this one. How they met and what happened after the events of this novella. I think I prefer The White Knight but the stories complement each other. Together they are strong 4/5, The Dark Horse barely 4.
---

A Vintage Affair - 2/5

Whoa, what a dumpster fire of a relationship this was. The winery setting was interesting and the MC was nice but the love interest... no no no.

Already at the couple of first chapters I was really sceptical how the relationship could ever work. MC was on a short work assignment and heading back soon, and the love interest is a closeted commitment phobe. I wasn't really getting how we could realistically get to happy ending during a novella - there's some real issues to tackle here.

And yeah, it gets worse. There is an immensely uncomfortable event in the book: a threesome with a woman. Not only that, but the MC is completely pressured into it.
Now, while I personally really don't want to read details about the love interest having sex with women, it's not like I couldn't get past it. And I have nothing against threesomes in general - when they are consensual. But here the love interest pressures the gay MC into a threesome with a woman.

I just can't even. Way to undermine someone's sexuality, including their sexual orientation. Way to manipulate and hurt someone just to prove some idiotic point. And the scene is uncomfortable, like it should be. And the love interest is very sorry, boohoo.

But I can't honestly understand how one could get over it. And it's not even like there was a real established relationship at the point. They'd had one night together, which also ended in disappointment. I just can't see it.

Basically the whole story is about the love interest quite forcefully swimming into MCs pants saying they can't have anything more, and when MC is completely okay with given terms and wants to distance himself because he doesn't like "just casual sex", the love interest hunts him down and forces himself back into the picture. Can the flags get any redder?
No. I might have preferred the MC to hook up with an actual murderer here.

"All Right. Go on. Say it. I know what you're thinking, and you're right. I'm a shit."
"Then I don't need to say it, do I?"

Yup. Should have ended there.

2 stars in GoodReads says it means "it was okay". It was definitely not okay, but I'm giving more than one star because there was some interesting stuff and it would have been a decent book without the horrible event.
---

Blood Red Butterfly - 4/5

A cop goes after a suspects lover. I liked this one though it is quite dark and the MC is rather obsessive. The thing is, he has some self awareness and he tries to distance himself before he lunges into the same spiral as the actual violent criminal here.
There is a rather obvious theme of obsessive lovers, the story of love interest's manga sort of repeats itself in real life.
---

Don't Look Back - 4/5

This was an interesting story but one can really see how Lanyon recycles her tropes. I read The White Knight as an extra for this set because of the Dark Horse. And here we have a total scumbag manipulative friend and amnesia plot. But I don't mind really. Even the premise of a pairing a cop with a suspect is here again, but that's just so delicious a setting I don't mind if I read 300 stories with it. And while amnesia in a mystery is pretty much as clichéd as you can get, once again it does work.
---

Lovers and Other Strangers - 4.5/5

Second chance romance with somewhat older love interest that treated the mc very badly. Going back to roots after an accident. And a missing twin brother mystery. It is kind of hard to forgive, which is realistic, but this is a gripping story.
---

Cards on the Table - 5/5

Talking about recycling ideas, we have another twin that was in an accident. And about 5 other things, but who cares. This story is lovely. A cold case: murder mystery in 50s Hollywood. Nice balance of mystery and romance. Though I do sometimes wonder how much beating people can really take and just go on with their days...

[Kasia Bacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great collection, consisting of six novellas (Blood Red Butterfly being my favourite). Brilliantly done audio (with only one slightly annoying narrator), containing 24 hours of listening time, which is an excellent value for money/credit and not to be sniffed at. It's one of my frequent re-listens. Highly recommended.

[ConM]

Dark Horse - a re-read for me, I knew who done it. Still enjoyable. 4.5*

Cards on the Table - new to me. Good mystery, romance ended a bit abruptly. 4.5*

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible finally thanked me for hopefully enjoying this program 11 months after I started. 11 months! But this time frame is no reflection on my enjoyment of the stories or the narration of them. I enjoyed them all. The length of time it took me to get through this 'box set' of novellas seems long for sure, but having read all the books at some point over the years, I was in no hurry. It was actually nice when I was between other books to start the next one of these and enjoy the reminder of what I had previously read. As always, Lanyon stories are solid and dependable. A great collection.

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full reviews on individual stories on goodreads. Got this for free during a sale on Amazon. Glad it was free, because I wasn't impressed with any of the stories and would have returned it had I spent my money on it.

The Dark Horse: 3 stars

A Vintage Affair: 2 stars

Blood Red Butterfly: 1 stars

Don't Look Back: 2 stars

Lovers and Other Strangers: 2 stars

Cards on the Table: 3 stars

[Robert Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.4⭐️.

[Dena · Rating 3 out of 5]

My enjoyment of these stories varied from 5* to 1*.

[MJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for audio
3.5 stars for stories

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mysteries were ok (some of them quite rushed in resolution in my opinion) but I enjoyed most of the romantic elements of the stories. Personal favourites were "Don't Look Back" and "Cards on the Table." I think they combined mystery and romance very well. I also really like how Lanyon does the "second-chance romance" stuff.

[Serena]

09.2015 BotM M/M Romance

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.

[Denise White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked all the stories in this book but 2...the rest was pretty good... my favorite was Don't Look Back.. that is the only one in my opinion was a 5 star... love this author so of course will continue to catch up on all she has written...

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of Josh Lanyon's short stories, which showcase his writing - all at a terrific price. Very enjoyable.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not all of these novellas are Lanyon's best work, but a couple are excellent.

[MOZELLE PRUITT · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyed the novellas, love the authors writing