Book Review: Dixon’s Duty by Jenna Byrnes

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Dixon’s Duty
Author: Jenna Byrnes
Series: Kansas City Heat #1
Heroes: James “Dix” Dixon and Bryan Scott
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 32,278 words
Publisher: Totally Bound
Release Date: April 11, 2014
Available at: Totally Bound
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: This is book one in the Kansas City Heat series, see the full series listing here

A serial rapist and murderer on the loose. Will Kansas City’s finest solve the case before the madman strikes again?

Detective James Dixon is determined to track down the most recent serial killer terrorizing the people of Kansas City. The chase leads him to the Last Chance Bar and Grille, where he meets and immediately falls for the sexy owner, Bryan Scott. But things at the bar aren’t exactly as they seem.

No one there remembers seeing the latest victim the night before she was brutally murdered. So why do the clues keep pointing back to the Last Chance? When the attacks strike close to home, Dix and Bryan must work together to save the next victim and whatever chance they have for happiness.

Review:

I think the older I get the more I like reading about older characters. Here I was surprised to realize that the main characters, Dix and Bryan, were actually in their 40’s. I was a little confused at first when Bryan introduced his college-aged daughters as the blurb didn’t give the ages away. Maybe it shouldn’t matter, and to me it didn’t, but to some it may.

Anyway, Dix is not the most lovable detective at first, and it took me a little bit to warm up to him. I guess it was probably more realistic for a homicide detective to be a little hard-ass, but it wasn’t very endearing to me. Fortunately it doesn’t take long for Dix to stop the “bad cop” attitude but, unfortunately, he and Bryan then fell in to the near insta-love category, which is definitely not a favorite of mine. I went with it though, because this is a short story and time was of the essence.

Bryan is the owner of the bar & grill which happens to be close to the first murder scene. The mystery, once you start meeting the secondary characters, became pretty obvious, but not so much that I rolled my eyes. I just couldn’t believe that Bryan was so blind; especially considering one of his daughters was involved.

What was odd, at first, was just how similar both Dix and Bryan were and how it all fit too easily. The similarities were discussed within the story so I know it was intentional and it made the relationship between the two a little more cohesive, however, it just seemed a little to convenient and not very likely.

But on the whole, it was a pretty good story; I enjoyed it for the most part and will be looking forward to the next book. I am just curious if they’re going to be different characters; I guess I will have to wait it and see.

Overall Impression: I liked it

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*