British Bulldog

Third Time's the Charm

Revisado: 08-18-14

Number 3 in the Dick Hardesty series sees our gay private investigator hard at work solving another case of a serial killer targeting the gay community. Interestingly, all those who are murdered are pretty unpleasant individuals and a case could be made that society is better off without them, but Dick still knows he needs to catch the perpetrator. And when he does… Even though I’ve previously read this book, I’d forgotten whodunit. Although I had my suspicions. And I was right, sadly.

As always, Mr. Frez-Albrecht puts in a stellar performance. His voice has become Dick Hardesty for me. Should I ever meet him in the street I would have to concentrate hard on not calling him Dick.

The narrator treats the light-hearted moments in the book with humour and gives due weight to those scenes where its required. And, of course, hats off to Dorien Grey for creating those scenes in the first place.

Dick's humorous monologues are as enjoyable as ever. Three of my favourites were: "There's a definite difference between having a big prick and being one, but in Comstock's case he qualified in both" and "What could be bought for a song ten years ago would now require a full-scale opera." And when Dick chastised himself for talking to his body parts, "Jeezus, how many people do you know who have conversations with their crotch?"

As would be expected, there are references back to people introduced in previous stories. Bar delivery worker Jared Martinson is perhaps my favourite. He’s darn sexy, a fact Dick isn’t shy about sharing. In this third book we’re still in Dick’s slut phase, although Grey always closes the bedroom door on such activities. I’ve always been in two minds about this. While it would be nice to see Dick and his partners in action, I guess the stories are more about Dick’s relationships, friendships, and of course his cases.

Murders are not the only deaths which take place in this story. The increasing number of people dying from the as then unknown AIDS is an ominous dark spectre that haunts these pages. I commend Grey for his deft handling of this subject. Dick's sense of helplessness, anger at the lack of action by the authorities and gay community leaders, strikes exactly the right note.

For me, the ending was more satisfying than in The 9th Man. It's difficult to say why without giving away details. All I can do is urge the reader to give this audiobook a listen so they can see what I mean.

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Caesar Falls Again

Revisado: 05-08-14

What made the experience of listening to Caesar's Fall the most enjoyable?

Caesar Falls Again

It’s been quite some time since I read the e-book version of this title, so much of what I heard in this audiobook seemed new.

The opening scene brought me right back into the lives of Elliott and his boyfriend Steve. Grey has always teased us by not revealing much about the physical appearance of his chief protagonists. However, thanks to the technology of audiobooks, we can at least hear how the author intends Elliott to sound. But I’m not totally convinced. We’re told Elliott is 39. Jim Hickey’s voice sounds older. This need not necessarily be a barrier to enjoyment, but it was something I had some trouble in adapting to.

Because Grey limits himself to a relatively small cast of regular characters, each different in his or her own way, it's easy to keep them all separated in one's head. Although this could have been made easier if Mr. Hickey had adopted different voices for each character. I realize, however, this is a deliberate choice and I offer no criticism, many fine narrators I’ve heard over the years do not dramatise their readings. One thing I can praise Mr. Hickey for is the use of voice-changing technology. Whenever Elliott is on the telephone to someone, the voice of the other party sounds like they’re actually speaking through a telephone. In my many years of audiobook listening I’ve never come across this technique but I’m definitely a fan of it.

This is a fairly long book, but the space is well used. Elliott gives us plenty of details about the apartment block he's renovating. Often too much description can bore, but Grey manages to keep things interesting by taking us through the process of acquiring then working on the building, bringing it back to its former glory. All this is interspersed with details of Steve and Elliott's growing closeness, and of course there's also a mystery unfolding as well.

The "Caesar" in the title is Bruno Caesar, a fellow resident in Elliott's building. Bruno won a lot of money on the lottery. Each time we saw someone hanging around Bruno I couldn't help but feel they were gold diggers. And to be fair, Bruno eventually thought most of them were, too. Rudy, a pretty disreputable character himself, summed the others up rather well. "What would a sexy little hustler like Ricky really see in a 40-something chunk of total vanilla like Bruno, other than dollar signs? His financial manager was robbing him blind, and that Blanton character might as well have 'Con Artist' stamped across his forehead." But Bruno was lonely, so he sadly concluded he had to buy friendship. Yes, I felt sorry for him.

The "Fall" in the title intrigued me. We were told early on Bruno had a great fear of heights, never going out on his balcony. So every time we saw him near a balcony or a roof edge I thought, "This is when he'll fall." I'm convinced this is one of the many ways Grey plays with the reader, dangling (not literally) Bruno over the edge and asking, "Shall I drop him?" His eventual fall came as a bit of a surprise as it happened unexpectedly.

Another of the regular cast of characters is the non-corporeal John. Like Elliott, I often found John's contributions frustrating, adding to, rather than helping to solve, the mystery. This of course is all part of Grey's cunning plan. I know little of the afterlife and spirits, but I think John is portrayed just right. And here again Mr. Hickey reaches into his box of tricks and gives John a reverberating voice which certainly helped us picture John as other-worldly. A number of times John tells Elliott that being dead doesn't make him omniscient. We're given frequent, maddeningly tantalising clues ~ as well as recurring wafts of Old Spice ~ but rarely anything concrete. This is an excellent way to incorporate the supernatural into an otherwise traditional mystery crime novel.

The ending came quickly, and some may think it left certain elements unresolved. As a long-term fan of Dorien Grey's work, I've come to accept such endings. The main mystery is solved so the story ends, but life goes on.

Who was your favorite character and why?

John. He's not all-knowing, which makes him a frustration but also very real.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Afraid not. Prefer to be talked to rather than read to.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long for that. Need to eat, sleep etc.

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A Good Old-Fashioned Mystery

Revisado: 12-07-13

What did you like best about this story?

Dorien Grey has always been careful never to reveal much about Dick Hardesty’s appearance. We may conclude by how successful he is with the guys that he’s far from ugly. But that’s about it. But now, thanks to Jeff Frez-Albrecht, the wall has thinned. No, we still can’t see him, but we can hear him. And, oh, boy. Sexy, deep, and hunky. No wonder Dick has no trouble finding guys.

The 9th Man, the second story in the series, sees Dick called in to investigate a murder. An the more he digs, the worse it gets. There’s a serial killer on the loose taking out gay men. The homophobic police department don’t seem to be doing anything to catch the guy. This is a solid and well-crafted listen. It follows the rules for any good murder mystery. All the clues are present, the author doesn't cheat by having his detective come to conclusions based on facts that he can't realistically be in possession of.

The characters are exquisitely well-drawn, from Rholfing the queenly guy who hires Dick, to Tim, the morgue worker (and Dick's informant) who I just wanted to take home and protect.

Hardesty is particularly appealing when he provides the reader with occasionally unkind—but always astute—word portraits of those he encounters. And thanks to Mr. Frez-Albrecht tthese encounters take on greater dimension. Grey always closes the bedroom door on Dick’s sexual activity. But, thanks to the narrator’s smooth tones, these scenes still manage to titillate.

Bit by bit, we learn about Dick, what makes him who he is. The guy is surprisingly complex and this complexity is teased out slowly, just as it should be.

The ending was a little different, but I won’t spoil things by going into detail. Safe to say though, I wasn’t disappointed.

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