An Enchanted Beginning

I'm starting the Nick Williams Mysteries and because my OCD demanded it I had to start at the very beginning, and I'm not sorry. Though I'm sure you can enjoy the series without reference to this, or probably read it somewhere down the line, I wanted to know who Nick was and what he was all about. This book is a collection of stories that cover from 1947, when Nicholas Williams, and his true love, Carter Jones, meet, to 1950 when they've settled into as good as married, with the ups and downs of any long term, happy couple. Carter is a Georgia boy, who in 1939, along with his friend Henry fled the bigotry and small-mindedness of his hometown, with no plans to go back. He alights in the, once and future, gay haven of San Francisco, and becomes a firefighter. Blond, and enthusiast of physical culture, and standing 6'4” it's job he's imminently suited for. However, despite an initial hot-between-the-sheets with his friend Henry, love has remained elusive. Nick is the black sheep son of a prominent and native San Francisco family. After being kicked out at 17, joining the the Navy and serving during WWII, Nick is working as an orderly at a S.F. city hospital purely to keep himself busy. He's also foundering in the relationship department. Living with a boyfriend, who's long ago become more of a friend, but stuck and not knowing how to move on. Luckily fate, karma, or the long reach of Cupid's arrow intervenes. If you've heard Some Enchanted Evening that's pretty much a snap-shot of how Nick & Carter meet on a Sunday afternoon at La Vie Parisian, and once you've read the stories, I think this song perfectly captures they're relationship. Can you tell I loved everything about this? I did. I love how [a:Frank W. Butterfield 6522971 Frank W. Butterfield https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1508622639p2/6522971.jpg] perfectly captures the flavor of times, doesn't superimpose modern sensibilities onto Nick & Carter, and keeps them distinctly male. This doesn't mean they're the gay Douglas Sirk martyrs, quite the contrary. Nick, in particular has been able to arrange his life where he owes very little to the court of public opinion, however they're still full and eager participants in the life and society of their time even with it's attendant public limitations. They have friends whom they care for deeply and they're going about gathering up, our modern, chosen family. I love how, while saying very little explicitly, the author tells us everything about Nick & Carter's physical and romantic relationship; how their height difference checks all their buttons, who's a bossy bottom who won't get bossed around outside the bedroom etc. This is the very beginning of a great love story, seasoned with some heartbreak along the way. Excellent. I'm eagerly going into the series proper, which I know are not romances, but Nick is good company and I'm sure we'll have more than a few glimpses of that tall drink of water, Carter Jones and the rest of the Nick Williams' friends.