Pretty Pretty Boys

Hazard and Somerset Mystery Series, Book 1

By: Gregory Ashe

Narrated by: Tristan James

Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

After Emery Hazard loses his job as a detective in Saint Louis, he heads back to his hometown - and to the local police force there. Home, though, brings no happy memories, and the ghosts of old pain are very much alive in Wahredua. Hazard's new partner, John-Henry Somerset, had been one of the worst tormentors, and Hazard still wonders what Somerset's role was in the death of Jeff Langham, Hazard's first boyfriend.  

When a severely burned body is discovered, Hazard finds himself drawn deeper into the case than he expects. Determining the identity of the dead man proves impossible, and solving the murder grows more and more unlikely. But as the city's only gay police officer, Hazard is placed at the center of a growing battle between powerful political forces. To his surprise, Hazard finds an unlikely ally in his partner, the former bully. And as they spend more time together, something starts to happen between them, something that Hazard can't - and doesn't want - to explain.  

The discovery of a second mutilated corpse, though, reveals clues that the two murders are linked, and as Hazard gets closer to answers, he uncovers a conspiracy of murder and betrayal that goes deeper - and closer to home - than he could ever expect.

©2017 Gregory Ashe (P)2018 Tantor

Must listen to whole series!!

The main takeaways I get with this wonderful book is 1) it is a really engaging mystery, 2) it has well written, well developed MCs that are flawed and have a lot of baggage, and 3) this is a romance over a series of books, a la Adrien English mysteries series. This first book is an intro to the characters and their background together. Hazard is a detective who left his small town because of the homophobic atmosphere and abuse he experienced as a kid. Somers was one of his childhood torturers who is seeking redemption and not going about it in a healthy way. They are thrust together as partners and have to navigate a minefield of the past, small town politic surrounding a murder, and secrets they have been keeping. But in reading the blurbs for the other books in the series, it seems that starting this series is an investment in completing the series to get to the HEA. Are the characters and writing worth the investment? I say YES!!

READ/LISTEN TO THIS SERIES

I have never laughed at characters the way I laugh at Hazzard & Somerset. You will fall into complicated love with them and never want to let go.

The narration is stellar! Tristan James makes these guys so real and alive with his performance.

Do not miss out on this gem of a series! The writing is *chef kiss*

Decent

This book is made better by a great narrator. The story was fine, but not good enough to get the next in the series. It just didn’t hold my attention that well.

Absolutely fabulous

I had to stop while listening to this story, to catch my breath, to digest the story, to eat. This story was long, but engrossing, and thoroughly enjoyable. I plan on listening again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. It was great, a real treat. Nico or John Henry, that is the question.

Good mystery with exceptional audio.

I love mysteries. This one was very interesting and intriuging though I was able to guess who was the perpetrator. I think it's because I've read hundreds and hundreds of mystery booksThere were also some flashbacks in the common past of two main protagonists that helped to understand their characters. The performance was also exceptional. Tristan James is one of my automatic to buy narrator. I am glad that I bought this first installment of a series. there are three books so far with an audio and six in total. I hope that all six will be voiced. Thanks to both: Gregory Ashe the author and Tristan James the narrator for such a great beginning.

Complex, Exhilarating Mystery

Tristan James does a fantastic job of bringing this tight, complex, thrilling story to audio

Good Book and Tristan James as narrator!

I bought this because I pulled up all that Tristan James had narrated the book. I really enjoyed this story, so much I bought the
rest of this series! I am the type of person who loves a 4 or more book series. I am not going to write about the story, enough people will do this. I hope the author keeps using Mr. James to narrate.

Extremely Misleading

First of all, the title makes very little sense. Yes, "Pretty Pretty" is the name of a gay bar mentioned in the book, but very little time is spent there, and it is completely unconnected to anything important in the plot.

Next, the book is ok as a police mystery story, but I found it too violent and the language way too unpleasant.

And finally (and most importantly) I got this book because it was in the romance package. And yet, it was completely void of romance. The main gay character had a boyfriend, but he was absent throughout the entire novel. And yes, there was a bit of sexual tension between the main gay character and the main straight character. But nothing (literally NOTHING) happened until 11 hours into a 13-hour book... and even then the kiss they share turned out to be bogus. By the end of the book, there was still absolutely NO romance, though we were left hanging: Which guy would Hazard end up with? But a single romantic question at the end of a novel does not make it a romance.

The narrator did an average job, but his performance was very problematic during dialogue between the two main characters, because there really was no difference between them as far as his voicing went.

If you want an extremely violent mystery with unethical police behavior, then this is your book—as long as you don't mind that one of the main characters is gay. But if you want a romance, then definitely avoid this one. You'll find zero romance in Pretty Pretty Boys.

excellent!

great to find a gay storyline without sex being the primary focus. Can't wait to read book 2!

Great story. Great narration.

An interesting mystery with a bunch of twists and turns. The story also touches on quite a few social issues. The writer does a good job of exploring these issues. There is a dash of romance in the story, but it is mostly a buddy cop mystery.

great story, great narration

great cop story with lots of UST. Fab narration, I bought book 2 straight away.

I enjoyed it, I just didn't love it.

I enjoyed this, I just didn't quite love it!

Hazard and Summers have history, that much is clear, but at the end of this book, they still haven't addressed that properly! And i wanted them to, NEEDED them to have done that, if nothing else.

Tristan James narrates.

I cannot fault the narration though! James is a master at his craft and gets all of both Hazard's and Summers' feelings about everything over exceptionally well.

Will I continue with the series? Probably not.

4 stars for the book
5 for the narration.

Brilliant

Absolutely loved this book. The narrator is fantastic at bringing Hazard and Somerset alive. Can’t wait to read/listen to more of this series.

Pretty Pretty Boys!

Thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook.
Straight on to buying next in series.
Some reviews say it was a little slow but i think its supposed to be... First in the series, setting the tone, backgrounds of characters which moving forward will be important. Give this a go!

Slow

Prizes for the listener and the narrator for continuing to the end of this book. Everything meaningful in this story happens in the final 2hrs 15mins, the rest is dull dull packing and fluff. The story unfolds hour by hour over a week. 13 hrs I'll never get back. TEDIOUS

Difficult start, but worth it

I'll be honest - the first time I listened to this I didn't finish it. That's ok though, because I did the same thing to lord of the rings and like that, when I came back to it I found I'd made a mistake. The performance is outstanding, I can easily tell whose chapter I'm on even when I come back after a few days of not getting chance to listen. You can feel it when one of the boys is having a rough time, which speaks both to the vocal artist -Fight me if you disagree - and to the author. I'll be listening to the rest of the series - It's almost enough to make me look forward to the walk into work taking over an hour. Almost.

Good story

The concept is interesting and well written. The characters are likeable and the narration is good.

Very slow very confusing

I decided on this following other reviews. it is droll and long winded and I keep having to rewind as I keep getting lost. it's all over the place.. Very boring.. I've managed about 5 chapters and given up.. Very boring