Special Agent Jason West is seconded from the FBI Art Crime Team to temporarily partner with disgraced, legendary “manhunter” Sam Kennedy when it appears that Kennedy’s most famous case, the capture and conviction of a serial killer known as The Huntsman, may actually have been a disastrous failure.
The Huntsman is still out there…and the killing has begun again.
I honestly can’t say how many times I’ve read this book or listened to Kale Williams’ phenomenal narration. The start of the Art of Murder series is what I feel to be Josh Lanyon’s best piece of storytelling, short of the genre’s cornerstone, the Adrien English Mysteries. Compelling character development, smart dialogue, and a multi-layered mystery are just a few aspects of what to expect in The Mermaid Murders.
To set the scene: Jason West is a young, ambitious, up-and-coming FBI Special Agent who works with the Art Crimes Team out of the California branch. Unfortunately, one of the downfalls of being on a team that many think is akin to paper-pushing, is that he’s plucked from his investigations and put on other cases when another warm body is needed. In this instance, he’s sent to a small village in Massachusetts, where his family used to spend summer vacations no less, to assist one of the most legendary Special Agents on a case that sounds like a waste of time.
Sam Kennedy with the Behavioral Analysis Unit has brought down some of the worst murderers and serial killers in the country, but after losing his temper and receiving some bad press on a prior case, he’s being punished just short of losing his job. The Huntsman, a killer who had hunted young girls and brutally murdered them in the small New England town seems to be back, despite Sam having put him behind bars a decade ago. The only thing worse than the suggestion he arrested and tried the wrong man, is being saddled with a baby agent like Jason as his handler.
I absolutely love how Lanyon combines art and murder as the common theme for the series. She plops the reader right into the middle of this chaos with just the minimal and perfect amount of setup. A girl is missing. No teen at the pool party will rat. There are whispers it’s the Huntsman. And the tension between Jason and Kennedy is so thick you’d break a tooth trying to bite into it. What’s even more delectable is after Jason apologies, Kennedy is still having none of it. It allows for such slow and frustratingly wonderful connections, communication, disagreements, attraction, and more between our two heroes.
Lanyon has such an unbelievable skill for clarity and simplicity that packs a punch to the face that leaves you saying, “thank you, ma’am, I’ll have another.” Whether it’s suspense, thriller, mystery, series or standalone, I have been a longtime, diehard fan of Lanyon’s work. This is the kind of storytelling a fellow mystery author values, appreciates, and aspires to. If you’ve not yet read the Art of Murder series, you need to check this out!
I love Josh Lanyon’s work, but I especially enjoyed The Mermaid Murders and its sequel. Lanyon’s smart but emotionally repressed characters create the best heart-wrenching angst as you watch two people fall for each other while trying to smother their reactions. The mystery storyline is engaging and clever, as usual, and I couldn’t get enough. I devoured this and the sequel, The Monet Murders, and wished there was more to be read. Maybe she’ll write a follow-up. I’ll be waiting.
This was my fourth of fifth re-read/re-listen. I enjoy the book a bit more every time I experience it. I can’t really label it better than an experience. Josh Lanyon has created an engaging experience with this series.
The mysteries in Josh Lanyon’s books always draw me in. I can’t resist a puzzle, and Lanyon’s mysteries usually have a puzzle piece you can’t quite find a home for until the end.
The setting for this book is so vivid in my head. I can feel each location. I smell the dank air, and I hear the creaking floor boards. This book engages all the senses.
The characters… I do so very much enjoy all of Josh Lanyon’s characters. Jason is particularly interesting to me. He seems a bit lost. Even though he has a career he enjoys and a family he loves, he appears a bit disconnected from his world. The introduction of Sam gives Jason a reason to build more connections.
The narration is excellent. The narrator definitely adds something to the story. Some books are great to read. Some books sound great narrated. This book is wonderful listen and a wonderful read.
So, I might have become slightly obsessed with Josh Lanyon’s mystery/suspense novels.
To say that I’m completely captivated is an understatement.
The main character is Jason West, a Special Agent at the Arts Crime Team of the FBI. And despite the arts-y focus of his work, Jason keeps stumbling into murder investigations.
In The Mermaid Murders, Jason is temporarily paired with the legendary Special Agent Sam Kennedy in an investigation that seems eerily similar to one of Kennedy’s previous cases, the capture of a serial-killer called The Huntsman. Even as Jason and Sam butt heads on the job, that animosity translates to another kind of passion when they fall into bed.
What I find so utterly engaging with Lanyon’s writing is the delicious and perfect combination of classic detective mystery with compelling, in-depth, character development and the complicated relationship between the two love interests. It’s an intriguing case while there’s still an underlying long-term plot continuing in the following books. Add to that the ups and downs of a romantic entanglement between two colleagues and it’s pretty much perfection.
These stories are exclusively told from Jason’s viewpoint which makes the portrayal of his and Sam’s relationship all the more frustrating. Sam’s gruff as hell, and often appears to be a complete ass. Yet he always manages to redeem himself. It’s an emotional roller-coaster of the very best kind and Lanyon made me feel it all together with Jason. Throughout this book I’ve been mad, sad, joyous and horny. All depending on Jason’s mindset – and Sam’s level of ass-holery. It was awesome.
I can’t recommend this book (and series) enough.
https://reflectionsofaswedishgirl.blog.se/the-art-of-murder-series-by-josh-lanyon/
Oh boy, I forgot how much I like a good mystery and crime solving novel. And with a M/M action in the mix? PERFECT.
So, this is not your typical romance. The romance is a plus side to the story, but it’s not the main focus. With that said, there is a lot of focus on their relationship, the beginning of it, which started with insta-hatred from both sides, it was hilarious really. It’s a slow-burn romance, no insta attraction, no insta-love, no insta-sex, so of course I love it! They are so believable together, the build up was great.
But the main story is around a murder. By the title, I thought this book was supernatural Lol It’s not of course, and I’m glad. I love the dynamic of our main lead, they were opposites trying to work out some work issues of their past. But neither wanted to work with one another. I does seem cliche, and it is, but the story itself is brilliant. The relationship, the mystery, the characters, all believed and well developed.
Something this book have that made me love more, was the vibe. It was set in a little town, the murders were strange and that feeling of unease, the suspense was palpable.
Kale Williams is a new to me narrator and I’m positive he’s becoming one of my favorites. For starters, his voice is so beautiful, soothing, deep. And he has this ability to make the voices so distinct, it amazed me. He speaks a little slow, but I just speed up a few seconds and was good to go. He also does all the right pauses: between a speech and a action for example, he is not running with the narration like some narrators tend to do (which is understandably, when I read to my niece I forgot all the periods and commas Lol)
This audiobook was given to me in exchange of my honest review.
These guys! Sam and Jason both FBI agents, one seasoned and arrogant, the other a new to the field and pretty naive – or is it naive and pretty. They clash from the beginning, dislike spilling into heated confrontation which of course you know is the dance that leads to hot sex. The plot as usual coming from Josh Lanyon is realistic ad just a bit spooky. Really good.