Customer Reviews

The Hired Man (Dick Hardesty Mysteries)

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Dick Hardesty investigates a series of mysterious murders somewhat connected with a model and escort agency. In the process he manages to interrogate many good-loking guys, and sometimes a more close investigation he finds desirable, if not strictly necessary (here his professionalism clasches with his pheromones in an humorous manner). But such distractions and the intricacies of a complex mystery won't deter our gay sleuth from finding the solution, in a chilling final scene, Well written, with poignant as well as humorous passages, this is one of the best mysteries of Dick Hardesty's series.

In THE HIRED MAN, Dick gets a referral of a businessman from out of town who is looking for an investigator to do background checks on some potential management employees. It turns out that an old friend, Phil, has been seeing the businessman on a regular basis. Phil is a professional escort and the businessman is a very closeted bi-sexual.

When the businessman ends up murdered, Dick finds himself being called upon by both the police and the escort service to try to answer some questions about the man's death. A short time later, one of the escorts, Billy, turns up dead. Billy was Phil's roommate, a really sweet guy, and Dick finds himself even more involved now that Phil's lost his best friend.

Are the murders connected? If so, how and why?

When a third murder takes place, a woman who is stabbed to death with a knife stolen from the room of the businessman during his murder, the path to solution becomes incredibly convoluted.
There is family intrigue - the owners of the escort service are a couple and one of the escorts is her "brother," who is actually her "son." The beautiful men who work for the service, and one who was fired from the service, may all be involved in the murders - or they may be potential victims.

It's pretty much up to Dick to unravel the links between the murders and the people, and solve the cases.

Both of these books are a lot of fun to read, and the personalities of the characters are incredibly different. Dick is brash and bright, while Elliot is classy and intellectual. The mysteries are intricate and fascinating. I was really surprised by the solution to THE HIRED MAN, and loved the fact that I hadn't figured it out, despite all the clues being laid out for me.

The fourth and longest of the Dick Hardesty Mysteries so far sees our hero once again embroiled in the more unpleasant aspects of the gay community. The subject of bisexuality (and Dick's lack of understanding of it) all helps to create the most complex of the mysteries thus far.

As always, Grey gives us some delightful descriptions of the players. My favourite this time was when he first went to visit his client "jet black hair almost to her waist, and eyeliner that reminded me of Cleopatra. She wore a gold lame tank top and black leather toreador pants. Probably not the maid, I decided."

Some old friends from previous stories reappear. I was especially please to see Jared and Phil again. I can't decide which is hotter. I don't think Dik can, either.

Alas Dick is still going through his "slut phase." This story sees him sleep with a number of the escorts he interviews. I feel as though I should condemn him for his lack of professionalism, but I can't. I'm old-fashioned and am a strong proponent of monogamy, but somehow Grey makes it all right. I think it's because deep down, Dick is looking for Mr Right, and his search leads him to encounter some very attractive and eligible candidates.

I recently found the Dick Hardesty mystery series, and am reading them all in order. I read this one in three days. It was really hard to put down because I kept wanting to know what would happen next. The plot moves quickly, and it's a pretty fast read. I highly recommend this series (at least the first four I've read).