I find it highly ironic and amusing that I run from my own living room when the TV is hijacked for one more cop/mystery show, yet I’m addicted to Josh Lanyon mysteries.  Josh’s writing is unique and descriptive.  Getting overly attached and involved with the  characters is easy to do and Snowball In Hell does not disappoint. 

The story opens with the discovery of a murdered prominent Los Angeles society member in the Brea Tar Pits.  Lt. Matthew Spain from the LAPD homicide division and his partner Jonesy are investigating the scene when Lt. Spain first meets Nathan Doyle, journalist for the Tribune-Herald.  It’s a week before Christmas and the year is 1943.  Matt is thirty-five, an ex-marine, and was “hit by sniper fire on Guadalcanal”.  Nathan, a few years younger, served in the Army in North Africa, and survived “machine gun fire in Tunisia”.

Lt. Spain quickly discovers the murdered victim was a gambler in debt and a blackmailer.  Snowball In Hell provides a fast-paced who-done-it with suspects all around, including sexy reporter Nathan Doyle.  But what did the blackmailer have on Nathan and why would he be a suspect?  Matt and Nathan separately work to solve the crime, but when Nathan is kidnapped and Matt arrives, a few personal truths are faced.  Both men have their own inner battles and the relationship that unfolds is compassionate, sexy, and rocky.

Snowball In Hell reminded me of my fondness for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Rex Stout’s Nero Wolf stories, but wasn’t it Hercule Poirot who liked to gather all of the suspects in one room for a big climatic finish?  Adding the element of M/M romance only made the mystery more exciting.  Snowball in Hell is definitely a Joyfully Recommended Read!