Detective Sergeant Aaron Fowler of the Metropolitan Police doesn’t count himself a gullible man. When he encounters a graphologist who deduces people’s lives and personalities from their handwriting with impossible accuracy, he needs to find out how the trick is done. Even if that involves spending more time with the intriguing, flirtatious Joel Wildsmith than feels quite safe.
Joel’s not an admirer of the police, but DS Fowler has the most irresistible handwriting he’s ever seen. If the policeman’s tests let him spend time unnerving the handsome copper, why not play along?
But when Joel looks at a powerful man’s handwriting and sees a murderer, the policeman and the graphologist are plunged into deadly danger. Their enemy will protect himself at any cost–unless the sparring pair can come together to prove his guilt and save each other.
Review:
Dear KJ Charles,
I actually overall liked this book better than several of your others in a row however it still was not a perfect hit for me.
First of all I thought that the the book should be classified under a fantasy tag in addition to the existing ones, because yes sure, it would be nice to determine everything about a person including whether they have an *inclination to commit a crime* (not the quote) but Joel did exactly that based on reading the person’s handwriting and I would say that he did it more than once.
It would be nice, but no, it is not happening. To be fair in the afterword the author does say that Joel’s graphology is a fantastical element, but I would have liked more indication of that.
Second of all, the romance actually worked for me here, for the most part anyway. I bought that they had a connection and may even had a shot at the future, so that was good. What did not work was the mandatory sex at the half way point of the book. Not because the sex scene was badly written or not hot enough, but because I just did not buy that at that point of the story Aaron trusted Joel enough to have sex with him just yet. The characters did not feel ready for the intimate connection yet in my head. I did however liked both main characters a great deal when I was not rolling my eyes at Joel’s way to make a living, but they were vividly drawn I thought and had good chemistry.
And lastly – I personally would call this story adventure and suspense, sure, but mystery? How is it a mystery if Aaron knows right away whom Joel picked out as a potential murderer and while he may need to find a way to bring him down, he still knows that he committed murder and there is not even a sophisticated reason to discover why he did it.
Grade: C+
