Fatal Shadows / A Dangerous Thing

I've had this series in my sights seemingly forever and always kept postponing it because on a cellular level I knew that I was going to fall hard. How could I not?

Adrien English lives in modern day Los Angeles but could very well be a refugee from Raymond Chandler's time. There's murder, danger, the past which is never just the past and L.A.'s finest who are not always so fine and in this instance come in the form of Det. Chan and Det. Riordan the latter a mystery unto himself.

I should point out that this first installment is in fact not a romance, not in any traditional sense, and yet it is a foundational piece for what could be fingers crossed a great, life spanning romance.The mystery itself isn't too complex, especially if you've been an avid reader of the genre. The draw here is the world Adrien inhabits, populated by quirky and distinct individuals like Claude La Pierra, Adrien's mother Lisa and of course Adrien himself.

I love his dry sense of humor, the way he sees the world and his relationship to it. Adrien is a fully human character: curious, afraid, daring, flawed. Even when not a spoiler this is a murder mystery after all he comes face to face with the killer he remains a full fledged man. He fears for himself and yet he feels pity for the murderer, for what has brought him to this pass.

I had just cause to wait before jumping into this series because now I'm all in!!! On the plus side I think it may be complete and I won't have to be bitting my nails waiting. I'm eager to see how the relationship between Adrien and Riordan pans out. I'm hoping that it continues as untraditional as this first installment promises. there wasn't even a kiss in this one!

I added the audio via the Whispersync option and though the quality of the recording sometimes varied the performance by Chris Patton is fantastic. Every character's voice is precise and distinct and pitch perfect, even the voices for the women which can be harder for a male narrator.