Title: Fools Rush In
Series: Horatio Storms: Book One
Author: Austin Thomas Burton
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 175 Pages
Category: Murder Mystery
At a Glance: Despite a few issues, as a straightforward murder mystery, this novel benefits from quite a lot of personality and an engaging sense of style, and I look forward to getting to know Rush and company much better.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: A decades-old body is found in the decaying San Diego landmark Aztec Hotel. Horatio “Rush” Storms, struggling bar owner, is dragged into finding out who it was and why they wound up in the closet, literally. Duplicitous drag royalty, childhood heroines gone wrong and unreliable police keep getting in Rush’s way while a series of gay-bashing keeps everyone on edge. San Diego in the early 1990’s isn’t like the tourism brochures promised and Rush needs to balance keeping promises with staying in business.
Review: Rush Storms isn’t the sort of gumshoe that typifies the mystery genre. He isn’t even a professional in the sense that private investigation is his primary source of income. He owns a bar he inherited from his father, a bar that’s definitely not making Rush a wealthy man, so he’s kept his PI license as a matter of course since his attempt at keeping with the family tradition of law enforcement failed when he was caught in a compromising position with a fellow cadet. When a matchmaking plot goes awry, thanks to Rush’s commitment to avoid relationships at all costs, it introduces him to a new client—his only client—as well as a decades-old murder, a plea from an old acquaintance, a brush with the mafia, and a San Diego police force that might be more the problem than the solution.
Austin Thomas Burton’s Fools Rush In succeeds on several fronts, including its colorful cast of characters who lead Rush through his investigation. He doesn’t discover clues as much as he’s handed them, but it’s in the telling of stories of bygone days that lends charm and intrigue to a San Diego of the not-so-distant past but which felt like ancient history at times, and good riddance to some of it too. As the plot unfolds, and the body count increases, and more secrets are revealed, Rush becomes embroiled in something with a few more twists than a mere cold-case murder. And in its resolution, something unexpected comes of an association with and connection to the SDPD.
Burton’s voice and story delivery succeeds in engaging the imagination, and I liked Rush, prickles and all, as well as his friends, both old and new. Where this novel could have used an assist is in the editing department to make the flow of that delivery a bit smoother. For those interested, Fools Rush In is not a romance novel though it does take a turn toward the romantic in its final chapter, something I felt could have been better fleshed out as it reads as rather tacked on and comes from a place of physical attraction more so than a bonding of likes, common interests, or even enjoying each other’s company at all, at any point during the telling. Despite those admittedly personal observations and opinions, as a straightforward murder mystery, this novel benefits from quite a lot of personality and an engaging sense of style, and I look forward to getting to know Rush and company much better.
You can buy Fools Rush In here:
[zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B087P3921Z?d” style=”black” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon/Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]