The Boy with the Painful Tattoo

Holmes & Moriarity, Book 3

By: Josh Lanyon

Narrated by: Kevin R. Free

It's moving day at Chez Holmes. Somehow, against Kit's better instincts, he and J.X. are setting up house together. But while J.X. is off at a writing conference, Kit unpacks a crate that should contain either old books or new china.

It doesn't. Within the mounds of Styrofoam popcorn is a dead body. A very dead body. There goes the neighborhood.

©2014 Josh Lanyon (P)2014 Josh Lanyon

Christopher Holmes solves another wacky mystery

Somehow Christopher Holmes always gets himself stuck in mixed up mysteries with odd characters. It is as if there is this fiendish hand (perhaps the author's?) directing his fate that gets him involved with criminally minded people against his will. These lunatic characters refuse to let Kit (Christopher) live his life, now with J.X. in San Francisco, in peace and contentment.

Due to delivery van mix ups, it is nearly morning when J.X. and Kit move into a beautiful house in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. J.X. has to leave to attend an authors conference and Kit, whose writing career is in rubble, refused to attend with J.X. and be humiliated. So, he stays home at the new (old) house to unpack and wait for more deliveries of new furniture.

Kit makes a trip to the hardware store where a fan, who met Kit at the same conference where Kit and J.X. originally met and fell in love, recognizes Kit and immediately becomes an annoying pest. Jerry Knight. There is something creepy about Jerry from the start.

When Kit gets back to the house, he starts unpacking boxes and putting stuff away. Searching for his own china settings, Kit goes down to the basement. He finds his china packing box but, instead of china, it contains a dead body. (It is the fiendish hand of fate I wrote about. It has it in for Kit. Always tossing dead bodies in his path.) Thus begins another week or two of hellish events for Kit Holmes. They do not even stop after J.X. gets back from his authors conference. Kit is bedevilled by multiple (five!) lunatic characters in this book. He manages to survive but the whole mess puts a strain on Kit and J.X.'s new life together.

How come Kit has to do all the "heavy lifting" in these mysteries while J.X. hangs around looking unbearably handsome and annoyed or bossy??? Really, J.X. is the ex cop and best selling author; but Kit is the real detective even if he writes cozy mysteries about Mr. Pinkerton, a cat.

Cameos by Adrien English and his lover Jake, as well as Rachel Ving (on multiple annoying phone calls) and new neighbor Emmaline and her cat Pinky.

Fun. Highly recommended.

The performance was outstanding👍

The author and narrator did a great job; Josh is one of my favorite mystery authors, and the complete excellence comes with the narrator, who is all into the emotional part of the book; you can imagine all the better because he completed it. This would be my second time rehearing it and no doubt at all to re do it again.🙌😍

Loved it!

I love this series, and this one was the best of the best! For me it got a lot of laughs and there were enough twists to hold my attention, can't wait to see what Lanyon comes up with next.

Very enjoyable

I have listened to all 3 Holmes & Moriarity books back to back and they were very enjoyable. I liked the mystery in this one. Kit & JX's relationship was better and I actually did not think Kit was as annoying in this one. I think it was because he finally confirmed and admitted to his feelings for JX.

An overall satisfying series from one of my favorite authors, Josh Lanyon. I also enjoyed the narration by Kevin R. Free as I thought he did a great job with Kit. I was not the biggest fan of his JX though.

Hilarious

This story made me laugh out loud and kept me engaged for its entirety.

Kevin R. Free performance was on point. He brings Kit and JX to LIFE.