This was clumsy and inconsistent, with some moments that didn’t make sense and a lack of internal life for the main character PI, which was disappointing because there were some moments in the dialogue that were genuinely likable and charming; there’s definitely potential to write something better in the future. To be clear, I am a fan of and spend money supporting multiple independent authors, particularly gay or otherwise queer mystery authors. I own over 30 Gregory Ashe books on audiobook alone, not to mention other authors or books I own both digitally and physically. I am a fan of the genre and of many authors who aren’t published by major publishers, and am more than willing to put my money to it for a quality story. I wish this was one! The author needed to address some issues, like 5 POV in the first 4 chapters, some of which never appear again as characters. They add no depth, take tension away from the plot by revealing things our characters don’t know, and make it confusing and take longer to connect to the characters since they aren’t the first perspectives we meet. There would be moments or ideas that could’ve been good. We are introduced to Charlie with a brief description that he’s not out to his family but hoping to have a chance to see a hot guy by telling a plumbing company their family doesn’t like older guys to service their home due to a past home invasion, and then a woman is sent instead. That could’ve been comedic if we got the scene, if that was our real introduction to him. Instead we got a page info dump on his life, which references it, but we don’t have any phone call, any moment of him opening the door and being like “Where’s the hot guy?” any interaction at all with the plumber, etc. we are just informed all this happened but we don’t get to see it. Also, he’s in his mid-twenties and later goes to a gay bar. It’s not like he’s 12 and trying to manipulate his way into seeing a potentially fit guy to stare at. He’s good looking, an adult, has transportation, and goes to a bar that same day. Another missed opportunity was having a 4 page POV of a secretary who is about to go on vacation. We learn she’s in an office in a building checking mail, and then the PI comes in looking disheveled. He jokes he looks homeless and says he was thrown in a dumpster. She knows it’s him and moves on immediately. Why is it her perspective? She recognizes him so there’s no joke, she’s not important, and immediately goes on vacation out of the country to free up her job. If it was Charlie’s perspective, as a first meeting that could’ve been comedic, waiting for a job interview not knowing what his new boss looked like and thinking some random walked in from the street and not believing him when he claimed to be his boss, etc. There was also more time spent on the chemistry less romance love triangle than on our main characters; it was mostly Charlie thinking silently that the PI was hot and occasionally remembering the PI is dating someone else and then being rude to him. No one is all that likable honestly except the nice baker stepmom. Charlie at one point uses PI’s washcloth to "take care of himself" in his boss's shower and makes the conscience choice to leave it dirty with fluids in his shower so his boss / love interest who he isn’t dating will be tricked into unwittingly rubbing Charlie’s dried fluids on him the next day. This violation is never mentioned again. Why did that scene happen? That’s insane. There were ideas, but almost none were executed well, and the plot fell apart at points (it’s never clear why the guy kidnapped didn’t want to sell a dilapidated building for a huge profit when he was being aggressively threatened, for example. He was supposed to be sentimentally attached to it when it was a burden he inherited that forced him to stop his dream job, and when he desperately needs the money). At other times we see scenes from a side characters perspective and then it’s immediately described again to us. And potential tension is gone by seeing all these other perspectives for random 4 page chunks. The author needs an editor willing to give edits for these weird distracting moments, and to say “that sounds like a fun scene, let’s actually write it instead of informing the audience it happened off page.” I received a free reader review copy from BookSirens and am leaving this review of my own free will.