Some things are better left hidden….Tom Paretski’s not just a plumber with a dodgy hip courtesy of a schoolboy accident. He also has a sixth sense for finding hidden things. Called in by the police to help locate a body near Brock’s Hollow, he’s staggered to encounter Phil Morrison, his old school crush—and the closeted bully whose actions contributed to Tom’s accident. Phil’s all grown up now, …
Phil’s all grown up now, and Tom’s unwilling attraction to him is back with a vengeance. Phil’s now openly gay—and what’s more, he’s interested in Tom’s personal charms as well as his psychic talents. As a private investigator called in by the dead woman’s parents, Phil is sceptical about Tom’s unusual gift, but nevertheless quick to spot its potential to aid him in his work.
The further they go with the investigation, the less they can ignore their shared past, and the more the pressure and the heat build between them. But Tom isn’t certain he wants to know the secrets he’s helping to uncover, while there’s a murderer on the loose who won’t hesitate to kill again—and this uneasy couple is moving right into his sights.
* * * * * * *
NOTE: This is lightly edited reprint of a previously published novel.
Word count: 70,200; page count: 256
more
I can’t recommend the Plumber’s Mate series by JL Merrow enough.
I’d heard people mention the series in passing for a year or two, but hearing “Plumber” in the series name, I just didn’t go running to the bookstore to look for it. And I totally missed out!
The main character in this series of books is Tom, a plumber with an uncanny psychic ability to find missing things — but only if they’re hidden intentionally. This leads him to find dead bodies and people’s dirty secrets. The perfect set-up for a mystery series, complete with private detective love interest, right?
Upon reading the blurb, I wasn’t so sure I’d enjoy the series. PI detective Phil Morrison, the love interest to our sweet yet snarky Tom, was a high school bully, a closeted gay kid who made Tom’s life hell and even served as a catalyst — unintentionally — for the accident that left Tom with a lifelong injury and a hip that plays up to this day.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the bully makes good trope. I hate the idea of someone falling for their bully, who they wanted even as the guy treated them like crap. It falls awfully close to the domestic abuse line. However, once I gave these books a chance, I came around.
For one thing, Tom doesn’t make it easy on Phil. Most of this first book, Pressure Head, is spent with the two arguing over anything and everything, including what happened in the past.
You also see that Phil is truly regretful. He doesn’t express it in words all that well, but you can see it in his reactions. In his honesty about the way that Tom made him feel.
And all the while, the two are working together on a murder case, growing closer even as they fight like cats and dogs and try to resist one another. If you love that slow burn, that feeling of UST, it’s definitely there in spades. And as the series go on, their relationship solidifies and matures, but Tom and Phil have more challenges ahead that keep their relationship evolving and keep the romance and mystery of the stories alive.
JL Merrow’s writing is fabulous, and Tom’s character is fresh, witty, and so damn compassionate you can’t help but love him entirely. These two are my new favorite M/M couple.
I love a good mystery. And this was a good mystery! This book was awesome. I laughed out loud several times and was on the edge of my seat once or twice. All in all, the makings of a great series starts here. I am going to have to read all of them now!
It’s not often I find books, particularly in the M/M romance genre, that strike the absolute perfect balance between story/drama and comedy, but Pressure Head manages to do so. All the characters are beautifully unique yet entirely lovable, and I can’t think of a single book or series that’s similar in terms of plot and storyline. This one is truly in a class of its own.
I love when a book combines my two favorite genres: mystery and gay romance.
I enjoyed reading about the characters, following their interests, seeing where things led.
The characters really make this – I love the prickly, sarcastic protagonist!
loved this book!
When Tom meets Phil it’s not the happiest of reunions. Phil was a bully at school and the bane of Tom’s life. Now they’re grown, Tom’s a plumber with a psychic gift often useful to the local police and Phil’s a private investigator. The two meet during a murder investigation and Tom is surprised to find that Phil is, like him, openly gay.
I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining and different kind of gay romantic story. It is witty, and Tom’s take on life and his present situation is downright funny at times. American readers may have some problems with the UK vernacular, but to paraphrase a popular saying Keep calm and keep reading! A great read.
An engagng mystery with engaging gay sleuths whose relationship is complex. But I’m tired of women romance writers assuming that they can accurately represent the romantic feelings of one man for another.
Loved the snark and banter. If nothing else, read to book for Tom’s inner musings. He is a delightful character.
I was a little crushed when one of my favorite M/M romance mysteries ended and was on the hunt for a new one to begin. I stumbled into finding Lock Nut and was just about to start treading it when I put on the breaks. I have jumped into the middle of so many series, losing that start up special spark, I wasn’t doing it again. So I backtracked and got all four books before it (in for a penny and all that) in the The Plumber’s Mate Mysteries Series. So, I loaded up Pressure Head and hoped to be wowed.
Consider myself wowed because I loved it! It has romance, mystery and my favorite – the British wit. I just adore Tom. A plumber, two cats and a sixth sense for finding hidden things. Honestly, I can’t decide what I love more about him but let’s stick with the sixth sense. His ability to find hidden things and I’m stressing on hidden. If something is hidden and he sets his mind to it, he can find it. This is not going to bode well if your secret is of the naughty variety. The local police occasionally call him in for his assistance, which in this case is to find a body of a missing woman…and he does. YIKES! The number one suspect is her rather questionable boyfriend. Cue the lawyer, one Phil Morrison, Tom’s old school crush and the bully that cause Tom to permanently injury his hip. He’s hired by the murdered woman’s family to defend the boyfriend and find the real killer. He asks for Tom’s help, which he is reluctant to provide, that is until old feeling stir up. Oh yes, things are about to get interesting!
Had I paid closer attention to this the frenemy element, I may have passed on this story. Good thing I just decided to jump in and read the whole series or else I would have missed out on this charming series. Tom and Phil…gotta love these two. Tom just wants to do his plumbing job and Phil is equally determine to get his help to find the killer. Thankfully, Phil wins and Tom goes along for the ride. The story is told from Tom’s 1st person POV which had me instantly falling in love with he’s saucy personality. Phil, hmmm, not quite the muscle bound Neanderthal I thought he would be. He’s somewhat secretive about his life and has quite a bit of guilt that still lingers when it comes to Tom. Luckily these two manage to work it out while solving a murder. So glad what they have is a HFN story because that means more curious situations for them to get into. Now about that murder.
Usually, I have a list of possibly guilty parties roughly have way through the story and then I wait for the puzzle pieces to fall in place. That wasn’t the case with Pressure Head. Instead, I was distracted by the building relationship between Tom and Phil, well that and Tom’s sixth sense ability and his attempts to get answers himself. HAHAHAHA!!! Yes, both had me laughing as sometimes Tom found himself in awkward predicaments. See my comment above about those with naughty secrets.
This is my first book by author J.L. Merrow and I keep wondering what took me so long to read her books. Creative plot, irresistible main characters in Tom and Phil, add in a splash of great secondary characters in the way of Gary, Darren, Dave and Tom’s two cats to get me instantly addicted to this series. I’m so glad I already have the next several books in this series because I don’t think I could wait to find out what Tom and Phil get up to next.
I received this book from The JeepDiva with the express purpose of an honest review. The opinions, contents, and rating of this review are solely mine