All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles

August 18, 2025

All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles

Zeb Wyckham is surprised when his cousin invites him to his country house for a visit, but he arrives to find himself at the family reunion from hell. Worse yet, his ex-boyfriend who hates him for ruining his life is now working for his cousin. Could it possibly get worse? Actually, yes.

A locked-room mystery combined with an LGBTQ romance seasoned with an element of horror. There is plenty of suspense and sexual tension, plus a few steamy scenes. I love mysteries set at English country houses. The cover reminds me of the covers on old Victoria Holt romantic suspense novels (consumed those like candy when I was a teen).

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

See what I mean about the Victoria Holt covers?

A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K. J. Charles

June 2, 2023

A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by K. J. Charles

Rufus d'Aumesty is the new Earl of Oxney, much to the consternation of his uncle Conrad who, unaware of his older brother's son, thought the earldom was his. But there is another possible claimant, Luke Doomsday, scion of the local smuggler family, whose mother may or may not have been married to Rufus' father first. Either way, Conrad won't be the next earl. The estate papers are a mess, the tenants have been neglected for years, and Rufus is trying to hide the fact that he is dyslexic. He needs help getting the estate back on track, and Luke is a professional secretary. As Rufus and Luke begin to turn the estate around, it becomes nearly impossible for them to ignore their mutual attraction.

Fun historical LGBTQ romance, set 13 years after the author's previous book about Sir Gareth Inglis and Joss Doomsday. Luke appears as a child in that book and it's nice to see him all grown up and revisit Sir Gareth and Joss. This is ideal as a vacation book or to read on a beach somewhere.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

The Marsh

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K. J. Charles

February 21, 2023

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K. J. Charles

Gareth Inglis is estranged from his father and living a marginal life in London, working for his uncle as a law clerk and looking for companionship in the city's gay underworld. He has a romantic encounter with a man who lives in a rural area, but a misunderstanding pushes them apart. When his father dies suddenly, Gareth finds himself in possession of a title, a country estate, a sister, and wealth. Life in the country is a lot different than Gareth expected, but as he slowly learns the pleasure of country living, he also begins to suspect that his father was not only a selfish man, but may have been a traitor to his country as well.

Boy meets boy in this LGBTQ romance/adventure. I'm not much of a romance reader but I had read another of the author's books (The Magpie King, a gay fantasy/romance), so when NetGalley offered an eARC of her forthcoming book, I decided to give it a try. Good characters (although there are a lot of Doomsdays), interesting circumstances, good writing. There are several strong female characters as well. Be advised that there is pretty graphic gay sex starting on about page three, and a lot more sex in the last half of the book. I don't have a problem with that except that it's hard to read about other people having sex when you're not getting any.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Gay men have been looking for each other throughout history

The Magpie Lord by K. J. Charles

October 1, 2021

The Magpie Lord by K. J. Charles

Upon the death of his father and older brother, Lucien Vaudrey is summoned home from the far east, having inherited the family earldom. He is now Earl Crane. But his family has magical enemies and he needs help fast. He summons a magician from London to assist him. Magician Stephen Day arrives to help but he secretly hates Crane's family, for good reason. But the two are forced to work together to clear the malevolent forces threatening Crane's estate. They also discover a powerful physical attraction to each other.

This was a freebie from Amazon Prime. It's the first book in the Charm of Magpies series. There's nothing wrong with the story or the magic aspect, but I did not like how Lucien treated Stephen. Stephen is a petite man and Lucien bullied and abused him, even/especially during the sex scenes (which were more graphic than I expected them to be). I'm a small person (although female) and I know how threatening it feels to have a much larger person trying to dominate you, just because they can.

Not going to continue with the series.

A magpie