Review: The Mystery of Nevermore

By: C.S. Poe

Available on: Amazon, Audible, and Barnes and Noble.

Overview:

Blurb: Sebastian Snow didn’t think Christmas would bring a break in to Snow’s Antique Emporium and a handful of murders. With his boyfriend, Detective Neil Millett so far in the closet he has to pass Narnia their relationship was strained even before Sebastian found a heart under his floorboards. Thankfully, there may be help available in the form of one smoking hot detective by the name of Calvin Winter.

Trigger Warnings:

Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Death, Drug Use (Prescription), Emotional Abuse, Food, Gore, Gun Violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Internalized Homophobia, Murder, Off Screen Infidelity, On Screen Sex, Sexism, PTSD, Toxic Masculinity, Violent Imagery, War (mentioned)

Body Count: 3

The Specs:

• Series 
  • Series Name: Snow and Winter
  • Book Number: 1 of 3
• Genre
  • Technical Genre: Gay and Lesbian, Mystery, Mystery, and Detective
  • Theo Genre: Awesome, Mystery, SAGA Mystery
• Page count: 216 pages
• POV: 1st Person
• Publication information:
  • Paperback page count: 216 pages
  • Publisher: DSP Publications
  • Language:  English
  • ASIN: B01HM8F0OS

Other Fun Stuff:

To Read or Not To Read (Again):

Bedside Bookshelf Donated Furniture Support

Rating out of five: 4.5 out of 5

Representation and Sexism Tests:

• Bechdel–Wallace Test: FAIL
  • Do two female characters talk about something than a male character? YES NO
• DuVernay Test: PASS
  • Are there fully actualized characters of color? YES NO
• Ellen Willis Test: PASS
  • Would two related characters still work to carry the story if their genders were reversed? YES NO
• Mako Mori Test: FAIL
  • Is there a female character? YES NO
  • Does she get her own arc? YES NO
  • Does it do anything other than supporting a man’s story? YES NO
• Sexy Lamp Test: PASS
  • Would the plot fall apart if the female character was replaced by a sexy looking lamp? Absolutely Maybe? No.
• Vito Russo Test: PASS
  • Is there a character on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum? YES NO
  • Are they a character beyond their orientation? YES NO
  • Do they affect the plot? YES NO

Overall review:

Thoughts:

I literally needed to buy the next two in the series after reading this first one. I loved Sebastian and really jived with his struggle with the closeted significant other.

The book itself has great pacing, witty dialoge, and a great twist on the Poe-obsessed murderer.

Smutty moments/smut review: GOOD SMUT. 10/10 would read again.

Favorite passage:

Was it engaging?

Yes No At times Room for improvement Had to fight through it.

Favorite Character:

Sebastian Snow!