Reviewed by JustJen
Title: Stage Fright
Author: Adam Carpenter
Series: The Jimmy McSwain Files #3
Heroes: Jimmy McSwain
Genre: MM Mystery
Length: 246 Pages
Publisher: MLR Press
Release Date: January 31, 2016
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: All the world’s a stage, but in STAGE FRIGHT, Hell’s Kitchen private detective Jimmy McSwain learns that life upon it’s wicked boards can be a killer.
The Harold Calloway Theatre on West 47th Street is home to the new play Triskaidekaphobia, and its playwright has been receiving threatening messages. Theatre owner and lead producer Wellington Calloway has hired Jimmy to investigate, but it’s a case not without its complications. His mother is the head usher there, and Jimmy grew up on its aisles. His ex, Remy, is also the costume designer for the show, a man he hasn’t seen in years. Further making his life difficult is the mysterious Seetha Assan, who is connected–albeit tentatively–to the case that forever haunts Jimmy–his own father’s murder. She may just have the clue to help him finally solve the cold case.
As Opening Night for the play looms, Jimmy finds himself involved in a nest of egos and personalities, all while seeking to find the missing Seetha. Toss in his on-again, off-again relationship with Captain Francis X. Frisano, and suddenly Jimmy’s life is edging toward tragedy. That’s when a murderer strikes, and suddenly nothing is pretend anymore. Life on the stage has turned all too real, and all too deadly. Just like on the mean streets of Manhattan.
Review: Jimmy is back on the case, or cases, as is usually the case. 😀
This time, the owner and long-time friend of the theater where his mother works has hired him to help find out who is behind the mysterious threatening notes being left for the director of the new show that’s about to open. What a tangled web that is. In the middle of it all is the return of Jimmy’s ex, Remy, the costume designer.
Remy and Jimmy obviously have quiet a past, but thankfully, Jimmy is pretty adamant about keeping it there. In the meantime, he still has strong feelings for the sexy Captain Frank. What a precarious relationship that is. They have such a connection, but there are so many reasons in the way of it becoming more. Not the least of which is Frank’s closeted status. There is also the fact that Frank took out the man Jimmy believed held an actual clue into his father’s murder, which he is determined to get to the bottom of.
Jimmy burns the candle at both ends again, trying to work the paying case while things potentially heat up surrounding his father’s. I love spending time with Jimmy. The way this story reads, it’s as if we are right along side him as he makes his way around the City tracking clues. All of the sex, and there isn’t much, is mostly off-page, and while I always wish to see more of Jimmy getting hot and heavy, I really didn’t miss it too much as the rest of the story takes over.
Jimmy fits into a different category than the types of stories I normally read, and every time one comes out, I’m excited to get back on the case, nose to the grindstone. I want answers for myself and for Jimmy. I want him to find peace and happiness and to finally get some closure on the event that has scarred and affected him so deeply for so long. I have no idea how long that will take, but I’ll be ready when the next installment of the Jimmy McSwain Files comes out.
Overall Impression: I really liked it
*I received a copy of this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.*
