Snowball in Hell

By: Josh Lanyon

Narrated by: Alexander Masters

Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Los Angeles, 1943: Reporter Nathan Doyle had his reasons to want Phil Arlen dead, but when he sees the man's body pulled from the La Brea tar pit, he knows he'll be the prime suspect. He also knows that his life won't stand up to intense police scrutiny, so he sets out to crack the case himself.

Lieutenant Matthew Spain's official inquiries soon lead him to believe that Nathan knows more than he's saying. But that's not the only reason Matt takes notice of the handsome journalist. Matt's been drawn to men before, but he must hide his true feelings - or risk his entire career.

As Nathan digs deeper, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay one step ahead of Matt Spain - and to deny his intense attraction to him. Nathan's secrets may not include murder, but has his hunt put him right in the path of the real killer?

This novella contains scenes of gay erotic content.

©2011 JustJoshin Publishing, Inc (P)2014 JustJoshin Publishing, Inc

Wonderful.

This is a classic noir murder mystery and is just wonderful. The narrator really did a great job and listening to this really makes you believe you are huddled around a radio with the family for a Saturday night adventure. Both MCs are great. Spain is a widowed detective coming to grips with his sexuality after the death of his wife and returning from WWII. And Doyle is a man tortured by his need for other men and trauma from the war. They find each other and tackle their collective demons. I hope there are more from these two as this is a HFN ending. Classic Lanyon and worth a credit.

Great narration to a great story

Any additional comments?

Series/Standalone: standalone (possible book 1 to future works)
Genre/sub-genre: noir/mystery/romance
Book Format: audio
HEA/HFN: yes
Relatable characters: yes
Abuse/Rape: no
Violence: yes
Ratio of sex/plot: equal
Well written/editor needed: well written
Would I re-read?: YES
Personal thoughts: I loved this. The mood setting was perfect in the written word, and is carried through to the audio as well. The characters are well-rounded, and easily cared about. What else can I say? Josh is a fantastic author and Alexander Masters is a fantastic narrator.

Short and Sweet

Great length. Lanyon's shorter books seem to be more focused and coherent. Two well developed protagonists and a well plotted mystery.

Great Noir and Romance

Audiobook Review September 2019:
Noir, mystery, history these are all some of my favorite genres so when they are all wrapped together with forbidden romance, at least forbidden in the era, and you have a brilliant story that I enjoy even knowing the whos and whys of the mystery. Being able to enjoy the mystery element even knowing the culprit(or culprits - don't want to give anything away for the newbies) takes storytelling talent and Josh Lanyon has never let me down in that area. As for the voice of Alexander Masters? Perfectly suited for the whole noir era of the 1940s.

Re-Read Review August 2016:
When you can enjoy mysteries and noir even better the second time, that takes talent because going in remembering who did it normally would take a little away but not here. STILL LOVE IT!!!

Original Review July 2014:
Amazing! More! Vintage! Noir! These are just some of the words that come to mind when I think of how to describe this book. The characters are very vintage, intriguing, and burrow their way into your heart. I don't do spoilers so that's about all I'm going to say other than just WOW! and definitely MORE of Doyle & Spain is needed to be written.

Wow! Another Masterful Performance

Josh Lanyon does such a marvelous job with his historicals. I love the way he has crafted this story. The dialog, the imagery, the well developed characters all bring this period to life. Parts of this story are just heart breaking, but Mr. Lanyon still manages to pull out hope. The mystery was excellent.

Alexander Masters turned in an excellent performance as the narrator. He did a really good job with all the voices, the pacing, and telling the story. I loved his Nathan voice.

Really terrific, I loved it

I read a review of another of this author's books recommending reading this book instead so I did, and it was superb, really a terrific read. Plus, the narration by Alexander Masters was absolutely outstanding. I hope I enjoy the next Audible book as much as I enjoyed this one.

Nice 40's Noir WW2 Murder Mystery

Where does Snowball in Hell rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I love all of Josh Lanyon's works. This was not one of my favorites. There were a couple of things that made it less favored. The Matt Spain character was great. Nathan Doyle...not so much. I just never could muster up any liking or empathy for him. And the descriptions and atmosphere of fear for being gay in the 40's didn't sway me when it came to his whiney, self destructive TSTL behavior. While I liked Matt alot, and his story gained my empathy, Nathan just annoyed me. I hate when a character experiences an emotional connection to the other main character, and immediately goes out and has sex with a stranger. Just...no. Its one of my big turn off's in a book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Matthew Spain. He's strong, loyal and has tons of integrity. A great character that you can root for!

Did Alexander Masters do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Yes, but thats about all. He had a strange pronunciation on several words that jarred me out of the story. And there were several times that I felt that he emphasized words awkwardly and in the wrong place in a sentence.

Who was the most memorable character of Snowball in Hell and why?

Matthew Spain. See above.

Any additional comments?

Not my favorite Josh Lanyon story, but Lanyon is always better than most of the selection of m/m novels out there.