Wyoming, m/m mystery, m/m romance, magic, art-crimes, art-detective, art-theft, theft, rescue-animals, historical-research, history-and-culture, FBI, local-law-enforcement, local-gossip, suspense, suspicion, friction, frustration, family, false-information, family-dynamics, multiple-murder, investigations, abduction, injury, relationship-issues, relatives, crime-thriller, secrets, lies, PTSD*****

Ephemera, magic, and the influence of Harry Houdini.
A great introduction to the history of magicians and the importance of ephemera to a waning art form.
Special Agents Jason West and Sam Kennedy have their home bases on opposite coasts with West on the art crimes task force in LA while Unit Chief Kennedy is a profiler in Washington DC but spends more time on the road than most agents. Despite their relationship being an ongoing theme, each book is capable of stand alone but the one I started with enticed me to go back and read more!
The mystery is very well done, the characters are so real that I wanted to slap one or more of them, the world building is exquisite, and it is altogether an excellent read! And a chance to learn more about magic history!
Voice actor Kale Williams has an intimate voice quality and really knows how to use it to the listener's advantage while defining each character's personality traits.. ( )

This might have been five stars, but I got bored in the middle, so. But, I liked where the relationship went. And, holy crap, that ending.

CW: Again, as with the rest of this series, there is antagonism toward people with perceived/presumed mental illness, the labels thrown around without any understanding that a diagnosis and criminal acts are rarely linked. There's also (past) criminal actions attributed to (apparent) mental illness. ( )

This instalment is perfect in every way. *.* ( )

4.5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, I finished it in a day! Jason and Sam are two men who are very different from each other and yet very similar in a lot of ways; watching them navigate building their relationship makes for a satisfying read.

After reading that ending, I hate having to wait a year to find out what happens next.
( )

Okay, in this book we get to understand better the dynamics in the relationship... and it itsn't a truly nice one. I can see how Sam would translate the differency in age to a position of superiority on all levels, but... yeah, not good. I don't feel like they relationship has really advanced in this book, and I really, really resent the cliffhanger.

But, that said, this is still a great mystery, with awesome dialogue and an enjoyable story.

The narration was really good, too. ( )