if you loved one last stop, then this is definitely a book for you, from the characters to the vibrant new york setting to the tender portrayal of queer identity. We begin in 1951, with the ‘Middle Street Massacre,’ where Inspector Steine (pronounced ‘Steen’) believes he has wiped out crime in the town, when two major gangs manage to wipe each other out. Although I read the odd cosy crime novel and enjoy the comical capers of Charles Paris on BBC Radio 4, I had never heard of Lynne Truss’s Inspector Steine and Constable Twitten series set in 1950’s Brighton. I loved A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee and was extremely eager to see how their writing transcribed into adult contemporary romance and man… I was not disappointed. The chemistry between Wyatt and Ely was believable and pretty palpable right from the get-go, and the professor/student vibes in the beginning were also pretty strong.

A Shot In the Dark is Victoria Lee's adult debut, a contemporary romance that I know will get people complaining that it is not fluffy or light enough. A SHOT IN THE DARK is not a swoony, lighthearted romance, but that doesn’t make it any less romantic. Inspector Steine (pronounced Steen) solved the Middle Street Massacre in 1951, still glorying in its resolution 6 years later when Constable Twitten enters the Brighton police force.The author of three novels and numerous radio comedy dramas, she spent six years as the television critic of The Times of London, followed by four (rather peculiar) years as a sports columnist for the same newspaper. That this first book featured a theatre critic who holds the keys to an unsolved murder made this doubly appealing to me. She is surprised to find out her professor is the man she had a one night stand with once she moved. It was an interesting read, one that sorta defies a rating because I enjoyed it to some degree definitely, I found it quite poignant and touching with intriguing themes and fascinating characters, but as a romance it didn’t necessarily wow me.

This happens sometimes when a book is trying to be Not Like Other Romances (TM), something we sometimes see in trad pub romances that lean into lit fic so that the book will be taken more seriously.The next morning, Ely wakes up alone and rushes off to attend her first photography class, reminiscing on the best one-night stand of her life.

their struggles as recovering addicts suffused with heart-wrenching self-loathing are far more raw and - at the risk of sounding trite - real than most romance novels will have the chutzpah to even attempt to portray. With Crystal forthright on his opinions of enfant terrible and decidedly angry Northern playwright, Jack Braithwaite, his panning of ‘A Shilling in the Meter’ is a foregone conclusion. They really put you into the head and life of these characters so you were able to not only see how and why they got to where they were, but the emotional impact it had on everyone.Set in 1957 in Brighton, the star of the book is Constable Twitten, an eager and intelligent young policeman whose ambitions are thwarted by Inspector Steine, who is still resting on his laurels of the Middle Street Massacre seven years earlier, in which two local gangs wiped each other out. Rather than being a straightforward police procedural, this is a send-up of mid-century crime novels, complete with an entrenched inspector, a dutiful seargeant and an inspired but irritating constable. Do not expect anything new or groundbreaking about making art but it did flesh out nicely Ely (and a bit) Wyatt as characters. I have to admit, with the Keystone Cops scenarios, the vaudeville theater show and general language, the period described felt more like the 1920s/1930s than 1957.

Finally take a look at the cover with a nicely striped red and white deckchair in the foreground, Brighton pier beyond it and the seagulls above in a dark cloudy sky.When Crystal ends up being murdered in his seat during the play, the rather Keystone Cops story begins.