I battled my way through this story and came close to giving up entirely. The author did a great job in developing the very likeable characters. I found the story to be too cluttered with unnecessary school and dance club information that added nothing to the mystery or solving it. The other big turn off for me was that the story ended with a "to be continued". I paid enough for a full length book and feel that I should have gotten it. It's difficult to find a mystery with gay characters in which the mystery isn't completely buried beneath the romance/sex scenes or the gay aspect isn't nearly non-existent. The former can be fun, but generally leave me wanting more plot. The latter are often good mysteries, but the detective is only vaguely gay -- he claims to be and has a boyfriend we never see, or is only in the story briefly.Foxe Tail, by Haley Walsh, is a nice middle ground. There is no doubt that Foxe and his friends are gay. They go out clubbing, and he met most of them by having sex with them first. Now they form a "club" of guys who slept with Foxe but are now just friends. As Foxe himself starts to realize, he's just a bit on the slutty side. Personally, I loathe clubbing, so those scenes didn't appeal to me much, but they weren't excessive, and always advanced the plot.Fortunately, Foxe also has a day job as a high school teacher. The scenes with the most heart in the novel involve his attempts to help a student bully get his act together. The end result isn't terribly surprising, but very sweet. There is also another teacher Foxe is strongly attracted to, but has conflicts with. Again, the resolution of the conflict isn't really a surprise, but it's nice. There isn't much romance in the book, though there is some on a back burner, and only one sex scene (which is explicit). But there is no doubt that our detective is gay.And the mystery is good. I didn't figure it out ahead of time, which I liked. Especially since the pieces fell into place well and it made sense in retrospect. Overall, I'd say the story is very successful on a number of levels. The writing is also excellent. So I'd definitely recommend the novel to MM readers who enjoy mysteries!
What do You think about Foxe Tail (2010)?
This is a fun mystery with gay characters. It's a lite read good for a lazy afternoon.
—Kev
Just couldn't get into the writing fr this.
—Lizzy
