Old Man Peterson: murder it's all in the family

Cops in Love #1

by B.L. Wilson

Lieutenant Abigaile Truman’s latest case involves a skeleton in the closet, literally; and it has been there for sixty years. Ina Peterson’s husband has been missing for just that long, so odds are the skeleton is his. Thing is, Ina has what appears to be a serious case of dementia, and her fiery granddaughter Jannita has her claws out in her defense. She and Truman clash in every way—or do they? As the case progresses, increasingly sabotaged by outside forces, it becomes obvious that there is more than one skeleton in the Peterson’s closet, and someone is resorting to murder to keep them there.
In this surprising, sassy romance, sparks of contention turn to passion as Ina’s story of struggle during the Depression in the South and betrayal and lust when she marries above her station slowly changes the lives of three very different women.

434 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2014

About the author

I’m a creator of romance who lost my way. I’m a dream weaver trapped in a world of useless information, bottom lines and bean counters. In short, I’m a writer. I pen novels of love, adventure and humor with African American lesbians as main characters.

I love writing and reading books. I’m a trivia buff and a movie freak. Just ask me and I’ll go see a movie, any movie at the drop of a hat. I’m crazy about my car. It’s a 15-year old VW convertible. Guess I like classic dependable things. I should mention I’m a curious sort too. I want to see, feel and experience as much as I can before I die and I plan on living a long time. My people live into their late nineties to over hundred and five.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the story. The sexual tension between the Lieutenant and the granddaughter was hot.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lot has been written about the new opportunities for writers in the e-book era. No more need for agents, over-the-transom submissions, and year-long waits for answers from editors. At the same time, things have changed for reviewers, especially for reviewers of lesbian mysteries, like me. Even though my reviews cover the entire gamut of lesbian mysteries, from 1977 to the present—most of the authors are still alive, and most have easy access to all my reviews.

I’m in this business for the express purpose of popularizing the lesbian mystery. That’s the absolute truth. To get the kind of readership that the genre deserves and has long been denied. It is certainly not to disrespect anyone who doesn’t meet whatever standard I might have of what it takes to write a successful novel. But every novel is not great. Every novel is not professionally written. How can I get that across without bomb threats from the author or her friends?

I’m overstating, of course. And who is to say that my opinions are any more valid than the author’s, or the author’s significant other? Well, that would be you. And for my reviews to have any cachet at all, I have to praise the best and caution the readers about those that do not meet what I consider the standards of a good novel.

Good novels do not mix points of view in a clumsy manner, they do not have characters act without having proper motivation, they don’t meander from the plotline without a good reason, they don’t use clichéd, over-the-top characters without giving the reader whatever background is necessary for us to accept them as legitimate characters that we should pay close attention to. Good novels, in fact, are generally written by good novelists, but here’s the catch-22: only good novelists would have the slightest idea what I mean by any of this. Novelists that are not good won’t be able to understand that I am talking about what they have written. But I am.

The bottom line is this: the novels I’m talking about in these opening paragraphs, and there are plenty of them, have no quick fixes—nothing I can say in a review will help make them good. They were simply released to the public too soon and only tend to lower the standard of the lesbian mystery genre.

Old Man Peterson tells the story of a skeleton that is found walled up in the bathroom of 73-year-old Ina Peterson. It has a wonderful cover—one that pokes you in the stomach to buy it. A couple of the characters and the basic plot are intriguing enough to wish that more time had been put into the book’s writing, editing, and even conception. Unfortunately, it suffers from many of the flaws I mention above. Resist the cover and read something by Penny Mickelbury or Nikki Baker. Call this one 1.5, rounded up to 2.

Note: This review is included in my book The Art of the Lesbian Mystery Novel, along with information on over 1250 other lesbian mysteries by over 400 authors.

[B.K. Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book a rating of four magnifying glasses which indicates that by my rating system the writer ranks as an Investigator which is very good and I recommend that you read this book. I would have given it five stars but this is more of a romance mystery and it just does not settle well with me personally. I am a great fan of mysteries, but the sex scenes and sexual imagery although well depicted and refractorial, well just distract me from the main point that I am looking for in this book - the who done it part, but like I said this is just my opinion.

With that said. Old Man Peterson is a well written book, it kept my attention to the end. I wanted to find out who did it so I did not want to put it down. The main character Lieutenant Abigaile Truman is going through a pretty hectic phase in her career and being that the writer made her a lesbian gave this story another incredible twist. You will love the development of the plot and the development of the characters. I do believe we will be seeing more works from B.L. Wilson in the future.

[R.E. Conary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cozy, erotic, police procedural

I enjoyed this sparkling, and titillatingly frustrating, murder mystery. While solving the case is important, sexual tension permeates nearly every page much to the main characters' chagrin. A delightful, often funny, novel with abundant sex scenes.