Reviewed by: Sue Eaton

TITLE:  Devil in the Details

AUTHOR: Anni Lee

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 50K

RELEASE DATE: July 16, 2022

BLURB:

What is your soul worth? Money? Fame? Success? Freedom? A donut?

When Franz Legrand accidentally started a career as a Private Investigator, he thought he’d solve a few crimes and make a few bucks. But when a suicide case leads him into a contract (And a passionate kiss) with the Devil, he finds himself with some unexpected, and perhaps
unwanted, new powers.

Lucian, the Devil’s incarnate, can’t help but be drawn to the young detective. Their chance encounter quickly snowballs into an unlikely partnership as Lucian takes Franz under his wing and teaches him how to control his new abilities. Lucian knows he’ll never have Franz’s soul,
but that doesn’t stop him from trying to claim his heart!

Devil in the Details is a Male/Male Paranormal Cozy Mystery series, filled with sarcasm, humor, and romance. Fans of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, who always wished Watson and Sherlock would just admit that they like each other already, and fans of Casey McQuiston’s Red, White, and Royal Blue, who love a little bit of Enemies to Lovers banter, will love Devil in the Details!

REVIEW:

I’m a big fan of murder mystery and paranormal books so it was a joy to have both together in one book.

Franz is a Private Investigator resting on his laurels from when he cracked a serial killer case wide open.  The flurry of cases that followed had slowed to a trickle when he’s asked to investigate a suicide.  Despite his reluctance it doesn’t take long before Franz is intrigued by all the things that don’t add up and the deaths pile up.

Franz is a complex character schooled in the life of hard knocks, he is snarky, cynical and doesn’t allow himself to get close to anyone, except his sister and even she is kept at arm’s length.  Then he meets a mysterious stranger at the café he frequents, who keeps popping up at different places in the case.  Lucien is urbane, sophisticated, and cultured.  Who would have thought he was the devil incarnate?

The relationship between Franz and Lucien is so much fun, it’s that push and pull, the I know I shouldn’t want this, I don’t want this, what will this cost me signals from Franz’s head, to his I don’t care, he’s so sexy, lust filled thoughts blanking out all the misgivings.  I really liked the way that Franz ends up with some of Lucien’s powers and that the powers he gets are short lived unless they are topped up.  It really played into Franz’s confusion and misgivings, but when push comes to shove Franz is all onboard about getting topped up.  It’s also interesting that Lucien is as conflicted as Franz, another soul to corrupt or something more.  It’s surprising that Lucien doesn’t want to corrupt Franz but what does he want?

The highlight of the book for me, was the double date between Franz and Lucien with his sister and her boyfriend.  The dynamic between them all was hilarious, Franz’s repeated unsuccessful attempts to use his new powers, deciding that drinking lots of alcohol would help and the banter between Lucien and Franz was very entertaining.  It felt so real exactly how an awkward double date with your sister would be.

There are twists and turns aplenty in this book with the mystery taking center stage and the blossoming relationship between Franz and Lucien taking a secondary, slow burn approach.   The main police character was so reminiscence of all the bumbling detectives from classic murder mysteries like Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes, I was alternatively annoyed at his ineptitude and feeling a little sorry that he was so clueless.  How he got to be a detective is anyone’s guess.

This book is one of two halves, but those halves are seamlessly put together.  The first half of the book focuses on the suicide case and the second half of the book focuses on the old serial killer case and the ramifications that occur because of that.  It felt like the life of a Private Investigator going from case to case and I appreciated that.

I’m interested to see how the relationship between Franz and Lucien is developed in the next book in this series as it was very much a budding romance in this one.  I really enjoyed the book and look forward to reading the next one in the series.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

Amazon