Murder on the Mountain

By: Jamie Fessenden

Narrated by: Cliff Bergen

Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

When Jesse Morales, a recent college grad who aspires to be a mystery writer, volunteers to work on the summit of Mt. Washington for a week, he expects to work hard. What he doesn't expect is to find a corpse in the fog, lying among the rocks, his head crushed. The dead man turns out to be a young tourist named Stuart Warren, who strayed from his friends while visiting the mountain.

Kyle Dubois, a widowed state police detective, is called to the scene in the middle of the night along with his partner, Wesley Roberts. Kyle and Jesse are instantly drawn to one another, except Jesse's fascination with murder mysteries makes it difficult for Kyle to take the young man seriously. But Jesse finds a way to make himself invaluable to the detective by checking in to the hotel where the victim's friends and family are staying and infiltrating their circle. Soon he is learning things that could very well solve the case--or get him killed.

©2014 Jamie Fessenden (P)2015 Dreamspinner Press

Not very compelling

Jesse finds himself in the right place at the wrong time and is suddenly embroiled in a murder mystery. His desire to solve the crime is rivaled by his attraction to the somewhat older detective on the case, Kyle Dubois.

Kyle, a bi-sexual who has only ever been with a woman, is immediately attracted to Jesse, but dismisses him due to his age.

Stuart is killed and pretty much everyone is a suspect. With Jesse’s help (Kyle reluctantly allows him to be part of the investigation) they manage to solve the crime, but not before Jesse is almost killed and Kyle has to admit his lust for Jesse might be more like love.

**

I admit right up front that this is not my typical book. I really like Jamie Fessenden’s writing style and have enjoyed previous works by the author, but I’m not a mystery fan. I like more romance than whodunit and this is definitely the latter.

As a result, my enjoyment of this book was less than it would be if you were setting out to enjoy a mystery with a bit of romance thrown in. Which is what this book is.

However, there were parts I adored. I absolutely loved Kyle’s exploration into gay sex and Jesse’s handling of the entire situation. I thought Kyle’s partner was a riot and the ease with which he accepted Kyle’s new love interest was fantastic.

I didn’t love the mystery and grew tired of the scenes with the “frat boys” involved in Stuart’s life.

If mystery is more your thing I think you will really enjoy this book, but if you are looking for a more “romance focused” book, you might want to take a pass.

Audio

Cliff Bergen is a new narrator to me and I thought he did a nice job with the narration. His vaguely East Coast accent fit the story well and it really seemed to fit the grumpy detective. I think my overall enjoyment of the book was enhanced by listening to the story and I’d look for him in the future.

Writing/Editing 4
Romance 2
Sex/Heat 4
Storyline 4
World Building/Characterizations 4
Audio 4

3.6 of 5 stars

Great Murder Mystery!

**Audiobook Review**

This was suck a twisted and mind f*ck book. I loved it. Every time I thought I had it figured out what was going on or what had happened, I was surprised... and believed the twist.

I loved that while there was still the romance and erotic scenes, there was a heavy and well thought out murder mystery to go with it. Would I have liked more romance and naughty-ness? Absolutely, who wouldn't? But the title told me there was likely to be a nice thick plot and I was happy with the balance.

This was my first Jamie Fessenden book and I would happily read more of his books.

Cliff Bergen was the narrator and I felt like he gave the story a unique light with his voice.

I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Inked Rainbow Reads.

good 👍

love the action with straight guy Todd. o.k. and there could always be more sex.

Good story. Good narration.

The mystery was intriguing, the characters were interesting, the setting was nicely constructed, and the steamy scenes were well written. The resolution felt a bit off. Hmm.

There wasn't any one particular moment that didn't mesh with the rest of the story, but somehow, for me, the resolution didn't seem to satisfy the emotional distress caused by the conflict. The story probably deserves a reread. I will certainly read/listen to more books by this author. After finishing this book, I am interested in what other mysteries Fessenden has constructed.

The narrator was new to me, and I enjoyed his performance.

If you are looking for a mystery/romance with some interesting psychological twists and turns I recommend this audiobook.