It’s the 1920s and David Flynn, newspaperman and former soldier has left New York for Little Egypt to write a follow-up story about the Herrin Massacre.  He finds much more than he bargained for, however.  Someone is murdering young women in Little Egypt and, what’s more, people are flocking to see medium Julian Devereux’s shows where he supposedly speaks to the dead.  Flynn picks Julian out for a phony, but perhaps he’s not one hundred percent right about that.  Julian’s visions of death are eerily on the mark and Flynn is surprised to discover he’s attracted to the vulnerable psychic.  But a relationship between two men in New York isn’t easy, never mind in small-town Illinois.  And that’s before Flynn takes into account the killer lurking in their midst…

Clandestine love affairs mix with murder and spirits – both of the otherworld and the alcoholic kind – in the fast-moving The Dark Farewell.  Josh Lanyon sweeps readers away to Prohibition-era Illinois where a cynical reporter meets his match in a disarmingly sensual spirit medium.  Flynn may be a hard-nosed reporter but he’s forthright, honest, and protective which makes him an appealing hero.  Julian, as Flynn finds out, is impossible to resist.  He may look young and vulnerable, but he’s not a pushover.  He broke my heart a couple of times, but I won’t give away spoilers to say why.  I loved him and Flynn together and wanting to see them find their way to happily ever after kept me reading almost until dawn.

As with all of Mr. Lanyon’s stories, The Dark Farewell is beautifully written.  Strains of Fatal Shadows, the first book in Mr. Lanyon’s phenomenal Adrien English series, came through for me in The Dark Farewell.  While the books themselves are not at all alike, the echoes of a well-beloved story in the tone of a new tale made me smile, and was comforting, like having an old friend nearby.

If I could wish for one thing in The Dark Farewell it would be a more finished conclusion.  Mr. Lanyon never ties his stories off with a bow, but the abruptness of the story’s ending had me scrolling back and forth on my computer for a good minute, sure that there were pages missing in my copy of the book.  Still, all in all I can say I greatly enjoyed The Dark Farewell.  Mr. Lanyon’s writing always entertains and The Dark Farewell is no exception.