Customer Reviews

Queen's Park

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first book in a series of mysteries featuring Detective Lane, a likeable but not very exciting protagonist -- at least not in this first novel.

The police procedurals seem to be believable; I'm not a police officer but the descriptions and depictions appeared realistic to a layperson like me who reads lots of novels of this genre. I did think there could have been more exploration of the motives and personalities of the major players in this novel. There were some bumps along the way where some of the characters suddenly acted or behaved in ways that didn't seem plausible (the grandmother and the daughter of the missing mayor in particular.) Additionally, I feel that more background development of Detective Lane and Arthur is warranted considering some of the quasi-flashback references and cause/effect reactions which fleetingly appeared. Maybe this will happen in later books. I didn't know much more about Detective Lane and Arthur at the book's end than I did at the beginning.

The author's bio indicates that he teaches writing to junior high and to high school students. While the overall writing isn't exactly puerile, it seems that this book was written more for keeping the interest of an audience aged from 14 to 18. I feel this book could have benefited from another 20 to 30 pages to help flesh out the characters; not that every question needs to be answered of course. Perhaps the following books in this series will provide a bit more maturity in writing by delving more into the psyches of the characters rather than just describing their actions.

This story is hum-drum average. It isn't a bad read but it is far from note-worthy, too. I might read another book from the series but overall this first novel isn't meaty enough or intriguing enough to make me anxious to keep up with the series.

I enjoy mysteries series featuring gay detective/investigator, more so when he has a little help from his spouse. Tom and Scott, Mark Manning, the Potrait series, Adrien English, Henry Rios, Alex Reynolds Mysteries, Donald Strachey series, Todd Mills, Dick Hardesty.. just to name my favorites. Sadly most of these series have discontinued. I am glad to have found a refreshing one in Detective Lane. Mystery, family drama, quirky characters, this first in the series is well written and have me turning the pages eagerly. The solving of the "Who did it" is not the climax but the dramatic events leading to a humane resolution in this tightly woven story.
Much more than a mystery, this is also a story with a heart as it touches on sexual abuses and homophobia. I would have preferred there to be more on Dectective Lane's background and his obviously painful past. Perhaps this will be delved into in the second book "The Lucky Elephant Restaurant" which I look forward to reading.

With some of my favorite gay mystery writers (such as Nava, Craft, Wilson and Stevenson) having concluded their long-running series, I have been looking out for possible replacements from lesser-known authors. I ran across the "Detective Lane" series (only two books, so far) written by Garry Ryan, a high school teacher in Calgary (Canada) who wanted to depict the diverse community in which he lives.

Detective Lane (the author apparently isn't real big on last names, so most characters are identified just by their first) is well known in the Calgary Police Department, both for being an excellent detective who specializes in missing persons cases as well as being one of the few openly gay members of the force. The latter has made him a target of occasional harassment by less-enlightened fellow officers, and made him a bit of a loner, working primarily by himself, occasionally aided by his life-partner Arthur, who worked from their home. It's a nice neighborhood, despite a busybody next door neighbor with a secret of her own.

In "Queen's Park," Detective Lane is sent to investigate the disappearance of the town's former mayor, Bob Swatsky, disappears following a bungled attempt at sexually molesting a teenage boy. In the days that follow, it also becomes known that he took with him an estimated $13 million swindled from the state from a shady land deal. Lane interviews Ernie, the young man who was attacked, and his colorful second generation Italian family, including a feisty aunt who chain-smokes while wheeling around her medicinal oxygen tank, and a widowed grandfather who has set up housekeeping with a likelike silicone female doll. The family claims not to know Swatsky's whereabouts, but Lane has his doubts. Apparently, so do two thugs with connections to Swatsky, who are trying to pressure the family into revealing his whereabouts, so they can get a share of the cash. It's a tough case, on which Lane reluctantly agrees to have help, in the person of Harper, a colleague who was one of Lane's bigoted critics until the gay detective once saved his life.

The book is very well written, with engaging, realistic and diverse characters. My only critique is that I thought some of the characters were somewhat stereotypically cartoonish, but I would still give it four stars out of five.

Start of a great new series of Gay mystery novels. Garry Ryan has a great future; anyone who can create the image of a teenager dragging his grandfather out of the rough on a golf course "like a seal being dragged over the ice in a Inuit documentary" is A-alright with me. Hope to learn more of the hinted parts of Detective Lane's relationship with his life partner, Authur.

A member of the Calgary, Alberta, police force, Detective Lane is presented the mystery of what happened both to an embezzler accused of attempting to rape his 15-year-old nephew and to the money taken. The investigation introduces him to a dysfunctional family, some of whose members nevertheless manage to keep functioning and whose antics often provide unexpected comic relief. When evidence almost at once begins to point to the nephew having accidentally and unknowingly killed the man, Lane must worry whether he really is onto the truth and what effect it will have on the boy. Halfway through the case, he gains a new partner, Harper, whose life he once saved. To Lane's surprise, Harper starts combatting the homophobic slurs Lane has learned to ignore, Harper having seen such hate cause his own nephew to try to kill himself. This very rich and very readable novel tells its story in short scenes, cinemagraphic style. Though it is not a canine mystery, it will also appeal to dog lovers.