Night Drop

The Pinx Video Mysteries

By: Marshall Thornton

Narrated by: Jack Meloche

Length: 5 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

It's 1992 and Los Angeles is burning.

Noah Valentine, the owner of Pinx Video in Silver Lake, notices the fires have taken their toll on fellow shopkeeper Guy Peterson's camera shop. After the riots end, he decides to stop by Guy’s to pick up his overdue videos, only to find Guy’s family dividing up his belongings. He died in the camera store fire, or did he?

Noah and his charmingly meddlesome downstairs neighbors begin to suspect something else might have happened to Guy Peterson. Something truly sinister.

The first in a new series from Lambda Award-winner Marshall Thornton, Night Drop strikes a lighter tone than the Boystown Mysteries, while bringing Silver Lake of the early 1990s to life.

©2017 Marshall Thornton (P)2020 Marshall Thornton

Mystery upon mystery upon mystery. Wow!

It's 1992 and Los Angeles is suffering from riots and lootings precipitated by the 'not guilty' verdict for the police officers in the Rodney King beating. But there is way more corruption going on in the Los Angeles Police Department and protagonist Noah Valentine, the owner of Pinx Video Rental in Silver Lake, wanders into it. It starts with the realization that a fellow businessman was burned to death in his camera shop during the lootings but the inventory and the money in the register are untouched. Marshall Thornton's Night Drop, brilliantly narrated by Jack Meloche, weaves an incredibly entertaining mystery that zags when you expect a zig then adds a couple of dangerous speed bumps to the already exhilarating ride. I cannot tell you how delighted I was to discover that this is the first of a series. I am so looking forward to reading more.

Great

Loved this book with amateur detectives. They became involved as if it was a everyday event

Accidental Death or Murder?

The first book of 'The Pinx Murder Mysteries' series, 'Night Drop', is set in L.A. during the Rodney King case verdict that resulted in rioting throughout the city. The owner of Pinx Video, Noah Valentine, becomes embroiled in the death of an acquaintance, Guy Peterson, the owner of a local camera shop. At first, the death is declared accidental but Noah starts to believe something more sinister happened.

In this first installment of the series, the reader is introduced to Noah. He is a man who has experienced tragedy and now just goes through the motions of life. After finding out Guy is dead and witnessing Guy's family's odd behavior, he starts to investigate the death himself. Noah is tenacious while looking for clues to what happened.

Noah has help in his investigation from Marc and Louis, his neighbors, and Leon, another acquaintance. They prove to be smart, capable and loyal friends. They also, at times, are the source of levity in the story. As secondary characters, they are well-drawn.

The story reminds me of a cozy mystery. There is a regular person who stumbles upon a mysterious death and using their brains and ingenuity, and sometimes naivete and carelessness, apprehend the culprit. It ticks all my mystery reading boxes.

The setting is great, The plot keeps the reader guessing. There are a few twists I didn't see ahead of time. The characterizations are top-notch. Jack Meloche does a brilliant narration. Overall, it's a winner by author Marshall Thornton.

I received a free review copy of this audiobook, at my request. I have written this voluntary review of it in exchange.

Highly recommended.

Great start to an amazing series

I read this book when it came out so I was excited to listen to it. I have to say that I am a fan of this author. Loved it as much as when I read it. A great mystery filled with twists and turns. I love the dark sense of humour- very much like my own. I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. The ending had my eyes watering but it did pull the story together and explained a lot. Definitely a book to keep and will listen to again.

Loved it. Great early 90s mystery.

I had liked a few of this author’s previous books and gave this a chance when I saw the audio was out and I’m very glad I did.

I love mystery series that have good characters and have a sense a humor (even in situations that are depressing) and this book delivers on both.

The author has a way with words and I really enjoyed the narrator as well.

The book does a good job setting the scene of early 90s LA and it is interesting hearing the reactions in the aftermath of the LA riots considering what has happened in 2020.

Can’t wait for the full series to hopefully be released on audio.

Bittersweet

Night Drop is a bittersweet remembrance of the early 90s. The fact that Noah, the main character owns a video rental store sets the stage for nostalgic remembrances. Noah brings out a sense of optimism, loyalty and caring that is endearing. His downstairs neighbors fill the bill as Noah’s caretakers and keep the fast paced storyline going by grilling him during the many meals they share. The ending leaves itself open to a sequel, I think it would make a great series and would appeal to a person of a certain age.

So good!

I read Night Drop three years ago when it was first released. I think it was my first experience with gay fiction and went into it expecting mm romance. Back then I didn’t realise there was a difference, and wasn’t quite sold on it to tell you the truth. That’s the thing with expectations. Now though, I’m addicted to this series, I love gay fiction – and the hurt they tend to inflict on the reader/listener. I can’t say that I’ve read – or listened to – many I don’t think my poor heart could take it. But whenever I do pick up a gay fiction book, I know it’s going to be a treat.

For a few years now I’ve been hoping this book would be released into audio, and it seems I got my wish, and I couldn’t be happier – well, maybe if I had the other books loading on my phone, but that’s just me being greedy. Anyway, this series follows Noah Valentine in the early 90’s. In fact we first meet him during the tail end of the riots in 92. For the most part he leads a quiet life, managing his video store and hanging out with friends during evenings. It’s exactly what he needs. Until he just happens to stumble right into a murder mystery. A mystery he and his friends are determined to solve. Because why not?

I love the quiet pace of this series. I know when I first read it, I felt like it was slow-going. But that’s what makes it so great, it was a slower way of life, answers weren’t instant, there were no cell-phones, and address books and rewinding a movie after watching it was a thing. I loved the gossip time with Noah’s friends, they were quirky and a lot of fun and I think they kept the book from becoming too heavy.

Listening to this book now was a bit eerie – and a whole lot of scary. Eerie because what happened back then is happening right now, scary because in the last 30 years we haven’t come further in terms of racism and homophobia. This book is realistic in a way that few books are, well disregarding the whole amateur sleuth thing because that’s pure fun. But the rest of it is very real, and Thornton has a way with words that takes you back in time, experiencing it for yourself. So if you are looking for an escape from reality, this is not it. However it is a masterfully created work that deals with many difficult subjects. It touches you when you least expect it, it surprises you and makes you fall just a little bit in love.

This is my first experience with narrator Jack Meloche and while he might not be up there with my favourites he did a nice job narrating it, and I enjoyed listening to him. He had some minor differences in voices, but nothing too distinct or individual for the characters often melding together. But honestly it never bothered me much, I was too enraptured by the story unfolding and having a look around LA in ’92 to focus on the narration.

If you for some reason have missed this series, this is the time to remedy that. It’s just too good to miss out on.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.