Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Undermined
SERIES: Daniel Owen Welsh Mysteries
AUTHOR: Ripley Hayes
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 94 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 12, 2020
BLURB:
It looks like Daniel’s quiet life is over.
Small town cop DI Daniel Owen spends most of his days keeping the office running in his own quiet way. But when an acquaintance of his boss is found dead in a mine shaft, Daniel sets it all aside to help with the case. Too bad the attractive DCI, Mal Kent, can’t seem to stand him, and the collapsed mines are enough to make Daniel think of booking it back home.
Mal Kent is hostile and makes it clear he doesn’t want Daniel around, and it’s apparent the rest of the local police don’t want Mal around either. Despite law enforcement making their work difficult, Daniel and Mal have their eyes on a solid suspect … until that suspect turns up dead.
With their major lead in the morgue, and a new suspect nearly mowing Daniel over in a car, the pair must reorganise. If the pair can’t work together, the murderer will go free … but Daniel has started to wonder if working together might lead to more than solving a crime.
“A wonderful book” Justene Adamec, Queer Writers of Crime Podcast
Undermined is the first book in a series featuring Daniel Owen, a DI in the fictional Clwyd Police.
REVIEW:
Daniel and Mal are thrown together because of a murder in Mal’s jurisdiction that involves a relative of Daniel’s command. Mal clearly is not happy to have Daniel there and the reception he give Daniel is more than a bit cool and hostile. Daniel doesn’t know why because it’s that way before he even opens his mouth.
Daniel tries to be helpful interviewing potential witnesses and checking out the crime scene. When he goes to the local station, it’s clear that Mal is not respected – in fact he’s pretty much ignored. When they are away from the crime scene and the police station though, Mal seems to thaw. And when Daniel is targeted and injured, Mal takes care of him. In more ways than medical 😉
The case gets more convoluted as time goes on with the obvious suspect ending up dead as well. The suspect list gets longer and weirder. Just when they think they might have line on the real killer, Daniels ends up in danger again. Mal might be able to save him – and also start something between them.
This is a really interesting start to a series and I can’t wait to see what comes next. This really just scratches the surface of these two gay cops who are thrown together on a very strange murder case. They end up together in more ways than one. One is out (never really in) and the other is (was) closeted. They don’t live in the same town and one is in a bit of a career crisis, so how will they make things work? Can they make things work? Only the next book will tell I’m guessing. Also I feel like I need to learn Welsh! Recommended.
RATING: 
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