• Dirty Secret

  • Cole Mcginnis Mystery
  • By: Rhys Ford
  • Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
  • Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (491 ratings)

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Dirty Secret  By  cover art

Dirty Secret

By: Rhys Ford
Narrated by: Greg Tremblay
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Publisher's summary

Loving Kim Jae-Min isn't always easy: Jae is gun-shy about being openly homosexual. Ex-cop turned private investigator Cole McGinnis doesn't know any other way to be. Still, he understands where Jae is coming from. Traditional Korean men aren't gay-at least not usually where people can see them.

But Cole can't spend too much time unraveling his boyfriend's issues. He has a job to do. When a singer named Scarlet asks him to help find Park Dae-Hoon, a gay Korean man who disappeared nearly two decades ago, Cole finds himself submerged in the tangled world of rich Korean families, where obligation and politics mean sacrificing happiness to preserve corporate empires. Soon the bodies start piling up without rhyme or reason. With every step Cole takes toward locating Park Dae-Hoon, another person meets their demise-and someone Cole loves could be next on the murderer's list.

©2012 Rhys Ford (P)2014 Dreamspinner Press

What listeners say about Dirty Secret

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Better than the first

Since I gave the first installment 5 stars it seems silly to say it is better; but I can't give 10 stars. Cole and Jae continue to have mystery/adventures and work on their relationship. In this installment, people get shot. The body count is not as high as in Book 1, but still. I actually love all the action in Rhys Ford's books. She has this writing style where you are just reading along, la, la, la and then BAM!! bullets start flying out of nowhere. It's great.

The funny thing is that by listening to this story, I feel closer to Cole and Jae. I'm hearing things I don't remember reading in the book, and I loved the books. It is due to the terrific narrator. His narration really gives life to these guys and their story. I know what is going to happen, as I have read all 4 books, and I still really look forward to the audio version being released. It is that good!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

LOVE this narrator!

**4 stars for the story, 10++++ stars for the audiobook narrator!**

Greg Tremblay, you rock my world.

You are a perfect, PERFECT, Cole McGinnis and your range of voices is... sigh... *me so happy*!! This narrator is one of my favorite audiobook narrators and has MADE this series for me! I could kiss you... for real! No, seriously, let's make out...

It takes a lot for me to LOVE an audiobook, especially an audiobook in which I have no idea what is happening. Honestly. I was totally clueless.

I had no idea what was happening in this book and I loved it anyway.

This might be terribly close-minded or something of me, but I couldn't for the life of me keep those Korean names apart. I had maybe one or two down pat, but the rest? A complete blur. Who were the main characters again? No idea. And listening in audiobook, where the names aren't written down for me to see them, it was even more of a problem.

In fact, when the bad guy/girl was revealed at the end, I had no clue who it was. Talk about anticlimactic...

So why did I love this book if I couldn't follow it?!

Answer: Well, the rest of the book rocked!

The scene with Cole and his parents... I cried. The scene with Cole and Claudia? Cried. The scenes with Cole and Jae? I got HOT and bothered! The book was funny! And sexy and crazy and I LOVE Rhys Ford for delivering again and again with this series.

I don't care that every Korean person Cole meets is gay. I don't care that I have no idea who the side characters are. I still love this series, no small part due to the audiobook narrator.

Keep narrating, Greg Tremblay, and I'll keep listening!

**Copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

better than the first one

I gave Dirty Kiss only 4 stars in all categories but moved it up to 5 for this book. Was it really that much better? No. I think I just got more into the characters. That, however, is no small achievement, since many times the later novels don't live up to the first in the series.

I found some parts of this story to be a little more dull than the duller parts of the first novel but the emotional scenes (and not just the sex scenes, which ARE emotional and not gratuitous at all), cut much deeper than in the first, so it's a fine trade-off.

I can't wait for the third, and I haven't read even a 2nd book in my string of purchases in a long time. Great characters, great social commentary (subtly included), great narrator.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Rhys does it again.

Rhys has written one of the best detectives I have ever had the pleasure to read. Cole has brilliant dry dialog and seriously funny asides, I can't imagine anyone but Greg Tremblay bring him to life.
This time around you learn more about the Korean "family" life that Jae-Min is a part of, and why he's in the closet. Of course there is murder(s), and Cole being shot at, then there is the great plot twist that you really don't see coming.
Wish I could find another word better than Brilliant, but really that's what any Cole McGinnis Mystery is.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It's No Secret.... I Love this Series

What made the experience of listening to Dirty Secret the most enjoyable?

There is so much going on in these books. Sometimes I get whiplash trying to keep up. The narrator helps by giving each character a distinct voice. I really like Mr. Tremblay.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

As in any good whodunit, Ms. Ford keeps the reader guessing. So many characters have motives, but until the end, you don't know who the perpetrator is.

Have you listened to any of Greg Tremblay’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. If anything, he's solidified his performance and made the characters his.

If you could take any character from Dirty Secret out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Scarlett. I would like to find out her beauty secrets :-)

Any additional comments?

Number 3 - Bring it.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Ugh. I love this series soooooo much

Any additional comments?

It hurts my heart how much I love these books. I love the mystery aspect, the Asian aspect, and most of all the amazingness that is Cole and Jae. The narration continues to amaze; I fall into this story as soon as I press play. The main beauty of this book is watching Cole and Jae's relationship develop as they get to know each other and the different worlds they come from. However, I want to add that I love all the characters in this series--Bobby, Scarlett, Claudia, even Mike are all amazing and so different! Rhys Ford does a wonderful job of balancing the romance and the mystery so neither overpowers the other (well, I say that but this is a romance so I might be lying just a tad). I don't know what it is about this series that just satisfies me on a soul deep level.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

H. O. double T HOT!

What did you love best about Dirty Secret?

The ever evolving relationship between Cole and Jae.

What other book might you compare Dirty Secret to and why?

Dirty Kiss, same characters, world and narrator.

What does Greg Tremblay bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A knack for Asian words, phrasing and accents like no other.

If you could rename Dirty Secret, what would you call it?

Sex on a stick?

Any additional comments?

Private Detective Cole McGinnis and his lover, Kim Jae-Min, are trying to settle into as normal a relationship as their crazy lives will allow in the aftermath of Jae’s cousins death. While Cole is still haunted by the murder of his long time lover, Jae is at odds with himself. He is committed to Cole like he has never been to anyone else, but hides his sexuality for fear of being ostracized by his traditional Korean family.

When their mutual friend Scarlet asks for Cole’s PI skills in locating a friend that has been missing for close to twenty years, Cole accepts the job and soon comes to regret that decision. Wherever Cole and Jae go, madness and mayhem are sure to follow, and this time is no exception. As the bodies start to drop Cole becomes more desperate to solve the mystery. Is Scarlet’s friend really missing, or is he dead? Worse, could he be the one doing all the killing?

What I thoroughly love about this series is the electric, scorching, white hot fucking chemistry between Cole and Jae. I’m talking bed breaking, hip bruising, resorting to speaking another language because your brain is completely fried, mind numbing sex! It’s utterly fantastic, a thing of beauty, truly. I digress... there is more to their story. Cole is a trouble magnet, wherever he goes death and dismemberment are sure to follow. His body is riddled with scars from all the near misses in his life, including the shooting that took the life of his former lover. His guardian angel must be seriously exhausted, the man always manages to make it out of the most harrowing situations alive.

Then there is the vivid and wildly described Korean culture that is wrapped around Jae, his family and his friends. It is no secret how that part of the country views homosexuality and Ford pulls no punches in her scripts. Jae is so obviously and stubbornly in love with Cole, but he’d just as soon die as admit to it, he is so afraid of losing his family. It’s something that Cole couldn’t truly grasp until he is face to face with his own hateful and ignorant parents for the first time in ten years. After a blood boiling confrontation with is step mother, Cole finally fully recognizes Jae’s fears. And I think their relationship grows stronger because of it.

Narrated by Greg Tremblay who is very monotone and matter of fact when he is portraying Cole, which is spot on with the way the character is written, but colourful and exasperating when reading Jae. Tremblay brings Cole’s dry and witty sense of humour to life while nailing all the various Asian characters with precision and finesse. Did I mention the hot, sweaty, passionate, toe curling sex? *fans self just thinking about it*

I think that Ford is such an accomplished writer that whether you chose to read or listen to this story, or both, that you would have the same experience. I just always love it when a narrator can take the words and really bring them to life, which is what Tremblay has done with this series. I can’t wait to see what dangerous and deadly mystery Cole and Jae stumble into in the next book!

~ Note, this is the second book in a series that should be read in order.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Rhys & Greg do it again!

Any additional comments?

It’s official…I’m a Rhys Ford fan. I am really enjoying listening to this series. Rhys writes great action and has this writing style where you are just reading along (listening), and then boom...bullets start flying out of nowhere. My only complaint is my confusion over all of the Korean names…I can’t keep up with who’s who.

Greg is an awesome narrator. He really gives life to these guys and their story. I love the way Jae and Cole’s relationship gets stronger with each book. Both of these MC’s emote feel-good emotions from me. Rhys combines a little mystery and suspense with Korean culture, and smexy, sometimes heart-wrenching scenes. Oh, and the lap cuddles are the best.

Great book and on to the next although it looks like I may have to read the next one :(

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent series continues

romantic-suspense, thriller, multiple-murder, missing-persons, Korean-Americans, California, erotica, South-Korean, cross-dresser, m/m-romantic-suspense, mysteries, series, contemporary, fiction, cultural-exploration, private-investigators, family-dynamics, family-expectations, family-history, family-drama, family-business, wealthy, audiobook, pet-cat, friendship, men's-club, drag-queens*****

Fascinating look into cultures unfamiliar to me while being an excellent mystery. The story of Cole and Jae progresses smoothly and intensely with insane twists and red herrings. This is all very important to me because I started the collection of characters by reading the first of a spinoff series on McGinnis Investigations.
Voice actor Greg Tremblay is absolutely perfect to interpret these wonderful characters.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

love this series!

I love these characters... I love Rhys Fords writing style... I love her characters and I love that her stories are plot driven and are still love stories 💗 The narration is perfection. Now on to Dirty Laundry!

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