Fabi NEEDS Email Notifications's Reviews > Tallowwood

This book is two things:

1. A sweet second chance romance.
2. A hard core crime mystery.

This story does one thing very well:

1. Puts the reader in touch with the protagonist.


Detective August Shaw has lived through sorrow in his life. First, his family couldn't accept who he was.

"I’m better off without them. I couldn’t spend my life justifying myself and my own happiness. Like paying a toll for being myself and something I couldn’t change even if I wanted to. They wanted me to pay a toll or a tax, or a tiny part of my soul, every time I saw them."

Then, when he'd found someone to share his love and life with, his partner was brutally taken from him. Years and years went by while he withdrew from the world and buried himself in work.

He wasn’t supposed to feel anything for anyone else ever again . The light in his life had been extinguished years ago, and he’d welcomed the darkness and the isolation. Until a little flickering beacon came into view, of hope and human contact, in the shape of Jacob.

Senior Constable Jacob Porter has a bit of hero worship for Detective Shaw who was brave enough to come out as a gay policeman when it was still unaccepted in society. When Jake gets the chance to bring in Shaw to help on a local case he's nervous but ecstatic.

The men hit it off at once. They find themselves making a good team and complementing each other's talents. But a relatively simple case quickly escalates as it ties in with a dozen other cold cases and the men have to scramble to solve it before anyone else dies, including them.

The crime mystery was done very well. The plot slowly revealing more and more as it went along. It never stalled. It never got boring. The last third of the story gripped me in it's action and I couldn't put it down until I reached the end.

The writing is simple, straightforward but so evocative. A single line can paint a perfect picture to make you feel like you're there in the flesh.

The weather had gotten worse. A cold, bitter wind howled; low dark clouds made it feel later than it was.

The banter between the main characters came across as easy and natural. I liked both characters from the very beginning and as they fell for each other I also fell for them.

I loved it. It's a great crime mystery with a side of sweet romance.

4.5 stars!!!