Desert Foxe

Haley Walsh

Skyler and his friends go to Palm Springs for the annual White Party and find murder!

Out and proud high school English teacher Skyler Foxe and his posse of friends go to the annual Palm Springs White Party for a weekend of fun, frivolity, and luscious men. But there are boy troubles of all kinds ahead. Skyler’s boyfriend and high school coach Keith Fletcher has to endure an embarrassing number of Skyler’s former hook-ups, one of the SFC might be going solo, Skyler encounters unexpected and unwelcome participants at the party, and there’s a murder on the dance floor, literally at Skyler’s feet! Both Skyler and Keith are drawn into investigating more than murder when the FBI asks Skyler to do the unthinkable.

Who is the Foxe in the Skyler Foxe Mysteries?

When you write an M/M series, you have to have two strong lead characters. And to make this mystery series work, my main lead, Skyler Foxe (that’s E-R), has to be compelling in a myriad of ways. Characters can’t be cardboard cut-outs. They have to have rich backstories and a personality that will keep readers coming back in book after book. Readers should feel that characters had a life before they ever opened the book’s cover and will continue to live that life long after the book is closed. It took me a while, but I began to develop just who Skyler was a few years ago.

I wanted Skyler to be…well, there’s no nice way to say it… a bit of a slut. He’s young. He was closeted at home, being raised by his divorced mother (his father went AWOL when Sky was 12) so he came out in college and just went a little crazy. To say that he was a player was perhaps taking it lightly. Nevertheless, as he puts it, he was always “Mr. Safety.” And anyway, these books are supposed to be funny. So nothing too heavy should be happening. Except for the murders, that is. It is a mystery after all.

So Skyler is young, in his first year as a high school English Lit teacher, and he just loves it, always wanted to teach, and now has a stint back at his old high school. In the first book, FOXE TAIL, he meets Keith Fletcher, temporary biology teacher. He thinks of Keith as a walking wet dream when he first meets him and then stumbles over himself as he insults football players, not realizing that Keith is also the assistant football coach. Smooth, Skyler. And there’s all sorts of behind the scenes stuff going on at the high school. It might be connected to murder, but Skyler has to investigate, and it takes the first three books to discover what all those secrets are.

Does romance blossom right away? Of course not! First off, Skyler doesn’t even know if Keith is gay. And since Skyler is in the closet at work (they live in a pretty conservative county in southern California) there’s a lot of on again off again between them. Is Keith being dick just to Skyler because he has an instant dislike of him, or is something else going on? As it turns out a LOT of somethings is going on (but I don’t want to spoil it for you). It’s not a big spoiler to say that Keith and Skyler finally do get together.

Skyler, because he was such a player, has a cadre of friends that still go to dance clubs and the local gay bar, Trixx, with him, because they all used to be his tricks. Jamie is a web designer and is a bit flamboyant with his brightly-colored dyed hair and outgoing attitude. Philip is more down to earth and owns the local coffee house, The Bean. And Rodolfo is a an older man from Ecuador, about forty and the spitting image of Antonio Banderas, and likes to wear shiny club wear just about anywhere he goes. Jamie has dubbed them all the Skyler Fuck Club, or SFC for short, and they all seem to get mixed-up in helping Skyler with his amateur sleuthing duties.

Keith, on the other hand, is the sensible one, though he has a soft spot for younger blond men and he falls pretty quickly and pretty hard for Skyler. Keith’s got secrets (spoilers!) that we won’t share here, but suffice it to say, that he can come to the rescue when Skyler finds himself in peril—as he always does. Their romance moves quickly, perhaps a little too quickly for Skyler, who had never even dated before he met Keith, and Skyler finds that he must adjust rather fast to the changing relationship situation. It isn’t helped at all by his best (straight) friend Sidney, whom he grew up with as best buds. She’s now a police detective and her main advice to him is to stay out of detecting and leave it to the professionals.

But where’s the fun in that?

Keith and Skyler are good foils for one another. The obvious outer differences (Keith is tall, broader-built, older, and dark-haired, while Skyler is short, younger by ten years, and pale blond) has them clashing philosophically, too.

The latest, DESERT FOXE, has Skyler and his posse of friends go to the annual Palm Springs White Party for a weekend of fun, frivolity, and luscious men. But there are boy troubles of all kinds ahead. Skyler’s boyfriend Keith has to endure an embarrassing number of Skyler’s former hook-ups, one of the SFC might be going solo, Skyler encounters unexpected and unwelcome participants at the party, and there’s a murder on the dance floor, literally at Skyler’s feet! Both Skyler and Keith are drawn into investigating more than murder when the FBI asks Skyler to do the unthinkable.

The erotica is hot, the SFC is laugh out loud hilarious, the mysteries are fun puzzles to solve, and the sweet romance between the English teacher and the football coach will leave you with a keen sense of happy. Life’s too short for gruesome and unpleasant endings. There is enough LGBT fiction out there for those sad plots. The Skyler Foxe Mysteries always strive for a good resolve to the puzzle but a happily ever after for its protagonists.

Haley Walsh can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/skylerfoxe.mysteries or on her website at http://skylerfoxemysteries.com/

Review

Title: Desert Foxe

Series: Skyler Foxe Mysteries 05

Author: Haley Walsh

Genre: Mystery

Length: Novel (235pgs)

ISBN: MLR-1-02014-0321

Publisher: MLR Press (7^th November 2014)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 4 ½ Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: Skyler and his friends go to Palm Springs for the annual White Party and find murder!

Out and proud high school English teacher Skyler Foxe and his posse of friends go to the annual Palm Springs White Party for a weekend of fun, frivolity, and luscious men. But there are boy troubles of all kinds ahead. Skyler’s boyfriend and high school coach Keith Fletcher has to endure an embarrassing number of Skyler’s former hook-ups, one of the SFC might be going solo, Skyler encounters unexpected and unwelcome participants at the party, and there’s a murder on the dance floor, literally at Skyler’s feet! Both Skyler and Keith are drawn into investigating more than murder when the FBI asks Skyler to do the unthinkable.

Purchase Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=HWDSRTFX

Review: This story is part of a series and can be read as a stand-alone but is best enjoyed if read in order. Skyler planned to go to Palm Springs with his friends for the annual White Party long before he met Keith; he has no intention of missing it now and convinces Keith to go along with them. Keith isn’t impressed with all the men who were Skyler’s former hook-ups, one of the SFC (Skyler Fuck Club) has boyfriend troubles, two of Skyler’s students make an appearance and a dead man drops at Skyler’s feet on the dance floor! Keith and Skyler are drawn in to an FBI investigation as Skyler is asked to help the FBI… Palm Springs won’t know what hit it!

Oh Skyler, you just can’t help yourself can you. Even when you try to stay out of trouble it just drops at your feet. Boys and Girls this is a true treat to read as we are drawn into yet another Skyler Foxe mystery and he wasn’t even trying this time! Skyler, Jamie and Philip party at the White Party every year but this year will be different as they all have boyfriends, Philip’s boyfriend Rodolfo isn’t sure about the trip, Keith is willing to go for Skyler and Dave (Jamie’s boyfriend) is raring to go. Things don’t go as planned when Phillip arrives alone and Skyler is welcomed by many a hook-up, but Jamie and Dave are having the time of their lives. Skyler discovers Rick and Alex at the party and channels his inner Sydney (his responsible detective best friend) and then things really begin to get crazy.

This is an amazing story where we see a lot more of Skyler’s friends taking part in the storyline; they are brought in seamlessly, a natural progression of the storyline and adding amusement and sniggers to lighten the story a little. The mystery part is wonderfully written, having Skyler fill in for an undercover FBI agent has you raising your eyebrow but the twist has you nodding your head in understanding. Alex and Rick’s appearance adds light relief as they are passed on from adult to adult as the adults are drawn into Skyler’s and Keith’s mystery, it was wonderful to see the two young adults and see how their actions (later in the story) show a glimpse of the men they will become. 

So it’s a fun filled, adventure for the SFC as they juggle the party, a murder and taking care of two horny teenagers and then mount a rescue when they notice Skyler’s mysterious actions. This is yet another Skyler story where you can only shake your head in disbelief as the antics of Skyler and his friends make you laugh and your jaw drop, where your sympathy for Keith skyrockets and where you wonder if Skyler will always attract trouble. I’m not going into the actual mystery or the circumstances that surround it because it is pure enjoyment to discover it for yourself. Now I can’t wait to see what trouble Skyler attracts next, let’s hope the next story will be appearing soon.

I recommend this to those who love mysteries that has tension and light relief, brilliant characters who have love, friendship and loyalty, who adore relationships becoming stronger and men who adore those they love, and an ending that is perfect.