This as a well written murder mystery with a side of light BDSM to keep it interesting. I enjoyed the strong, well balanced Roger who walked the line between being a cop and a strong Dom. The two aren't mutually exclusive but I could see how they over lapped especially in early stages of Roger and Sean;s relationship. I tried hard to like Sean but found him to be a bit of a bumbling pain in the ass. I couldn't but help liking the strong female lead that was Mary Anne. I haven't found many women mixing it up in a BDSM story but she was no shrinking violet. There were enough twists in the story that it took me a while to figure out who the killer was. What was difficult to grasp was why the killer decided to act out after 25 years and not before. The guy got away with the crime perfectly. With a good plot, interesting characters and a line of bodies, this mystery is very much worth reading. ( )

I really like this author, I wish she had some new books coming out. ( )

If you want to get a synopsis of what happens in a book, don't read my reviews. Synopsis writing has to be one of my least favorite occupations.
I will tell you what I liked and didn't like about them though.
First up. A.M.Riley's books all are non-predictable. In other words, whether writing a whodunnit or a contemporary romance you can't predict the ending after just a few pages.
Her characters have flaws and sometimes those flaws are still there at the end of the book.
Roger will always be meticulous and fussy and Sean will probably always swear too much and chew his fingernails.
She doesn't have "and now they ride off in the sunset together" endings, However you do learn enough about her characters and see there are ways they can accommodate their differences, which is really what life is all about.
The hot sex is there but not the be all and end all. The characters' motivations and conflicts in personality and actions are what drives the story.
This book had one of the best openings I've read for a while:
"There is a place for everything, Detective Roger Corso believed. And even though, in the chaotic and often grotesquely messy world of Los Angeles homicide, things could be misplaced or badly placed, still there were certain places where certain things most certainly never, and without exception, ever belonged.
A mummified corpse did not belong stretched across his living room couch.", [AM Riley, The Elegant Corpse:]
You do have to think with most of her books. Everything is not cut up and served to you on the plate. You may also be reaching for the dictionary a couple of times when you read. She does not "write down" to her readers, you are lifted to her level which is a high one.
I thoroughly recommending her. ( )

Actually a 3.5*, but as books getting BDSM even halfway right are so rare I'll round this up.

This is well-written and well-edited, with only the transitions from one scene to the next occasionally being a bit abrupt. I'll not go into any of the plot, because that would give away things, the mystery itself is well-woven into the romance plot which ended with a satisfying HFN. I guessed who the culprit was about 60% in, but the resolution also still was satisfying.

Lovely cover!

Some of the cons were that this book took on too many things, there was the old Leather scene, sickness and death, an MC who is OCD, religious experiences, paranormal experiences, BDSM, sorrow and whatnot else. It came on as too much at times, with not enough space given to each. What also exasperated me were the instances where BDSM and whip facts were simply wrong, e.g. a cat is not a singletail, nor will a normal BDSM cat cut through cured leather, an asian penitentiary cane isn't something commonly used in BDSM, applied normally it leaves the recipient for days in a hospital, some of the reactions were askew or over the top as written.

However, on the whole, one has to be thankful for an author writing more emotions into BDSM than what is usual. I also was thankful for that all sex scenes were plotpoints and relevant.

I certainly will check out other books by this author.



( )

First of all, I loved the main characters. They have great interactions and chemistry right away and the sparks between them were flying pretty high everytime they butt heads. I knew it was going to explode when it got to that point and it certainly didn't disappoint.

The mystery wasn't half bad, I mostly suspected the wrong guy until about halfway through. The story itself was pretty well balanced and I enjoyed it. I would have liked to know what exactly happened to his ex-partner though.....

Anyway, the only thing I could not stomach, was the violent aspect of their relationship. I'm fine with spanking, and domineering personalities where one is clearly in control in said relationship but the actual act of flogging, that was a huge part of it in this story, it's too far for me. I liked Roger's attitude while he did it and afterwards, he's clearly not a monster but the flogging itself was already too disturbing for me personally to concentrate on well, the good parts of those scenes? This is obviously my own taste and doesn't have anything at all to do with the book or the author who did a wonderful job writing this story. It's clearly A.M Riley's best work to date in my opinion.

There's a torture scene at one point and no raping or anything coming close to that part of the person's body even thought it was clearly a jealous crime. So for that, I'm pretty relieved (I can't stand rape). And the getting over it process was very acknowledgeable as well. However. I just simply don't understand what in hell made them want to continue the violent lifestyle after this, especially since it's the sub who was tortured that pushed the top to resume it. I guess you have to be a part of it to understand it really...

I'm clearly not a fan of BDSM but while I think that naturally people who likes it will most likely enjoy this story, I still think that even people who doesn't like it should be able to read this story and get something from it~ ( )