Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Police Brutality
SERIES: Hazard & Somerset: A Union of Swords
AUTHOR: Gregory Ashe
NARRATOR: Tristan James
PUBLISHER: Hodgkin and Blount
LENGTH: 11 hours and 57 minutes
RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2020
BLURB:
For the first time in a long while, Emery Hazard’s life is good. His new business as a private detective is taking off. Things are good at home. He loves his boyfriend, John-Henry Somerset; he loves their daughter. He might even love the new friends they’ve found. There’s only one problem: Somers has been talking about marriage.
When a former colleague, Walter Hoffmeister, comes to Hazard and hires him to look into a series of anonymous death threats, Hazard eagerly jumps on the distraction. Hoffmeister might be a jerk, but he’s a paying jerk, and Hazard isn’t convinced the threats are serious.
Until, that is, Hoffmeister is almost gunned down on Hazard’s doorstep. As Hazard investigates more deeply, he learns that more than one person in Wahredua has a reason to wish Hoffmeister dead. His search takes him to the Ozark Volunteers, reincarnated as the Bright Lights movement, but it also leads him into a sanctuary of radical Christianity. Meanwhile, an antifa activist has arrived in town, calling for Hoffmeister’s death and threatening total war with the Bright Lights.
As Hazard continues to look for answers, he becomes a target, too – and not just because he’s helping Hoffmeister. The Keeper of Bees is still at large, and the killer hasn’t lost interest in Emery Hazard. Not yet. Not, Hazard begins to suspect, until the Keeper has taken everything Hazard holds dear.
REVIEW:
Whoa Nellie! Who would have thought that Hoffmeister would reach out to Hazard for help? Strange things are happening and he’s convinced someone wants him dead. He’s probably not wrong – there are probably multiple somebodies, given the way he’s done his job and lived his life. Police Brutality is not only the title of this book, but his M.O.
There are a bunch of suspects in this one and as as usual, Emery has to wade through the help and non-help from the people of Wahredua. He’s also dealing with issue with John and John’s partner. Plus the Bee Keeper is on his mind and making him anxious as well. I don’t want to spoil the plot of this story, because I don’t want to give anything away 🙂
I did enjoy this one more a little more than the previous installment in this series. There are fewer gruesome details and violence than the last one 😉 As usual Emery and John are working their way through their new life – with John remaining police and Emery working at his PI business. Their very different personalities continue to try to mesh as they are living together. I really can’t stand John’s new partner. He grated on me even more in this one. We also aren’t getting much further on the Keeper mystery, but I feel like there are hints being dropped in this one that will come back in future books. The book also ends on a pretty big surprise that I wasn’t at all expecting. As usual, Tristan James does a really good job with the narration. I really could feel both Emery and John’s frustration. Highly recommended and on to the next book!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: