Reviewed by Annika
This is a Series Review of All’s Fair (Books 1 – 3)
AUTHOR: Josh Lanyon
PUBLISHER: Carina Press, Harlequin Audio
SERIES REVIEW:
All’s Fair is probably my all-time favourite series of Ms. Lanyon’s. And while there is romance, the books are mostly focused on the mystery taking place. Each book can be read as a standalone, but then you’d miss out on some great books. This is a series I know I’ll come back to and more than once. Highly recommended.
SERIES RATING: 
TITLE: Fair Game 
NARRATOR: Sawyer Allerde
LENGTH: 6 hours, 49 minutes
RELEASE DATE: November 10, 2010
BLURB:
A crippling knee injury forced Elliot Mills to trade in his FBI badge for dusty chalkboards and bored college students. Now a history professor at Puget Sound University, the former agent has put his old life behind him, but it seems his old life isn’t finished with him.
A young man has gone missing from campus and as a favor to a family friend, Elliot agrees to do a little sniffing around. His investigations bring him face-to-face with his former lover, Tucker Lance, the special agent handling the case.
Things ended badly with Tucker, and neither man is ready to back down on the fight that drove them apart. But they have to figure out a way to move beyond their past and work together as more men go missing and Elliot becomes the target in a killer’s obsessive game….
REVIEW:
Josh Lanyon writes good mysteries and this book definitely shows why. Great and genuine characters, and a well thought-out plot. I love mysteries and romantic suspense and Lanyon delivers on both counts.
A student from the university goes missing and former FBI agent Elliot Mills promises to look into it. What he stumbles across is much more sinister than just one missing student. It seems like there might be a serial killer hunting on the grounds, and one that does not like Elliot poking his nose into his business.
The romance between Elliot and Tucker is a second chance one. They parted in the past just after Elliot gut injured in the line of duty and left the FBI for teaching history at the university. While there is some drama, a hint of angst, it all plays well with the story. It’s never drama or angst for the sake of it but truly has a place and a meaning behind it all. I loved watching them dance around each other. Both still having feelings for each other, but also deeply hurt over how it all ended. It was great to be there when they put it all aside to try again.
This book is definitely mystery focused and all things romance comes second place. I don’t mind that at all, I love mysteries and trying to figure out who the bad guys are, the motives behind it all, so I was one happy girl beginning to end.
Sawyer Allerde was a good narrator. Not a great one, but far from bad. His deep voice fit well with the story and he had a wide range of voices for all the different characters we encountered. I do wish he’d added a bit more feeling to his narration, but that’s might just be me being picky.
Fair Game was a good start to the series and even though Elliot did say his investigation days was in the past, I have feeling trouble will find him sooner rather than later. If you are a fan of mysteries and haven’t read this series yet, you should change that now.
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TITLE: Fair Play
NARRATOR: J.F. Harding
LENGTH: 7 hours, 20 minutes
RELEASE DATE: September 8, 2015
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Fifty years ago, Roland Mills belonged to a violent activist group. Now, someone is willing to kill to prevent him from publishing his memoirs. When ex-FBI agent Elliot Mills is called out to examine the charred ruins of his childhood home, he quickly identifies the fire for what it is – arson. A knee injury may have forced Elliot out of the Bureau, but it’s not going to stop him from bringing the man who wants his father dead to justice. Agent Tucker Lance is still working to find the serial killer who’s obsessed with Elliot and can’t bear the thought of his lover putting himself in additional danger.
Straight-laced Tucker has never agreed with radical Roland on much – “opposing political viewpoints” is an understatement – but they’re united on this: Elliot needs to leave the case alone. Now. Tucker would do nearly anything for the man he loves, but he won’t be used to gain Elliot access to the FBI’s resources. When the past comes back to play and everything both men had known to be true is questioned, their fragile relationship is left hanging in the balance. See how Tucker and Elliot’s relationship began in Fair Game.
REVIEW:
We are back in Seattle some six months after we left the guys in Fair Game. This time around tragedy strikes a bit too close to comfort when Roland’s house is burnt down to the ground. All evidence points to arson and his old activist group being the motive. Someone might just kill to keep some secrets left alone and past events left forgotten.
While this book too is heavily focused on the mystery it also deals a lot with family in all its forms. Roland’s past has come back to make a visit and some secrets are bound to come out – did they really cover up a murder of an FBI agent from back then – and what really happened to the teenage girl that just vanished?
There is also much more focus on the new relationship between Elliot and Tucker. How they navigate their lives together as their relationship solidifies, and a deeper trust is formed. But investigating Roland’s past does put a strain on their new relationship. Out of the blue they also get a surprise visit in the form of Tuckers long lost mother and her new husband, but will they be accepting of Tucker and his love for Elliot?
There has been a switch in narrators from book one. This book is narrated by the fabulous J.F. Harding, and I for one is very happy with that switch. Normally I want consistency in my narrations, the same voice throughout a series, keeping the same voices for each character, start to finish and so on. But this time around I am happy with the switch. Harding narrates with feeling, he brings you into the story in a way that Allerde didn’t with the first book. So changing narrators isn’t always a bad thing.
All in all I very much enjoyed this book, I love mysteries and family secrets, so this was right up my alley. These boys are definitely well worth spending time with, so I think I’ll jump straight on to Fair Chance.
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TITLE: Fair Chance 
LENGTH: 7 hours, 43 minutes
NARRATOR: J.F. Harding
RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2017
BLURB:
One final game of cat and mouse…
Ex-FBI agent Elliot Mills thought he was done with the most brutal case of his career. The Sculptor, the serial killer he spent years hunting, is finally in jail. But Elliot’s hope dies when he learns the murderer wasn’t acting alone. Now everyone is at risk once again – thanks to a madman determined to finish his partner’s gruesome mission.
When the lead agent on the case, Special Agent Tucker Lance, goes missing, Elliot knows it’s the killer at work. After all, abducting the love of Elliot’s life is the quickest way to hurt him.
The chances of finding Tucker are all but impossible without the help of the Sculptor – but the Sculptor is in no position to talk. Critically injured in a prison fight, he lies comatose and dying while the clock ticks down. Elliot has no choice but to play this killer’s twisted game and hope he can find Tucker in time.
REVIEW:
This was my favourite book in this series, possibly even my favourite Lanyon book to date. I just loved every word of it! It probably can be read as a standalone, but the events and people in this book relies heavily on book 1, Fair Game.
This book was again mostly focused on the mystery aspect. Remember the serial killer – The Sculptor – from Fair Game? Well, he’s back again and is once again trying to yank some chains and manipulate events to his liking. Only this time he hints at having an accomplice on the outside helping him with his work.
Elliot and Tucker are sceptical to say the least, but starts investigating the claims for their own piece of minds. Add in a nosy reporter with a dangerous habit of collecting murderers and things might go exactly as planned. When suddenly Tucker vanishes all bets are off and it turns into a race against the time in order to save him.
The mystery in this book was a solid one. There were a lot of avenues and clues to explore, twisted minds plotting and planning and it was not always clear where it would all lead in the end. I was highly entertained from beginning to end.
J.F. Harding did a really great job narrating this book. He adds in a lot of feeling to his narration and has distinct voices for all the characters. I truly believe he was a great choice for this series and I will happily listen to more of his narrations in the future.
It seems like this might be the end of the series, but honestly I’m not quite ready to say goodbye. I’ve enjoyed spending time with them solving mysteries, watching them grow both as people but more into their relationship. I’ve loved the hours we spent together and I highly recommend you to do the same if you haven’t already.
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