Orientation

A Borealis Investigations, Book 1

By: Gregory Ashe

Narrated by: Charlie David

Shaw and North are best friends, private detectives, and in danger of losing their agency. A single bad case, followed by crippling lawsuits, has put them on the brink of closing shop. Until, that is, a client walks into their Benton Park office.

Matty Fennmore is young, blond, and beautiful, and he’s in danger. When he asks for Shaw and North’s help foiling a blackmail scheme, the detectives are quick to accept.

The conspiracy surrounding Matty runs deeper than Shaw and North expect. As they dig into the identity of Matty’s blackmailer, they are caught in a web that touches politicians, the local LGBT community, and the city’s police.

An attack on Matty drives home the rising stakes of the case, and Shaw and North must race to find the blackmailer before he can silence Matty. But a budding romance lays bare long-buried feelings between Shaw and North, and as their relationship splinters, solving the case may come at the cost of their friendship.

©2019 Gregory Ashe (P)2019 Gregory Ashe

A Great Start To Another Great Series!

Gregory Ashe is one of my favorite contemporary authors. His writing is crisp, smart, funny, and impressive in its ability to make you *feel* something. After falling completely, maddingly in love with his Hazard & Somerset series, I was excited embark on a new Ashe adventure.

North and Shaw are complex, endearing characters. Their relationship is beautiful, deep, complicated, simple, and--at times--infuriating. They are friends who care deeply about each other, each wishing, in their own way, that they could be more. Shaw naturally seems like the more fragile of the two, but by the end, one wonders if it isn't North who might fall apart in a brisk wind without Shaw as his anchor.

The mystery in this novel is wickedly smart.
It's hard to express just how smart it is without spoilers, but It's like if a Sherlock novel and Macgyver had a baby and that baby took classical piano lessons from the age of 3, kind of smart. You might think you have a bead on what's going on, on the culprit/s behind it, and you might be right... For a while at least.

Charlie David does a nice job narrating the story, giving each character their own, unique voice and setting the tone throughout the entire book.

In summary, you really should get this book if it sounds like something that's up your alley. You won't be disappointed, but you will be swept up and carried away into North and Shaw's daring, dangerous, and intriguing world.

It's Gregory Ashe's world, and we're all just living in it.

*I would be remiss to not take this opportunity to also plug his Hazard & Somerset series as well. Both series are amazing (Sorry Gregory I had to)!*

Fantastic

‘Moments like these, very rare, very few, we’re like catching fireflies.’

You can’t help but want North and Shaw to wake up and really see what they mean to each other. It’s a great case of having so many years behind you that it clouds your judgement on the other person. So many memories you never spoke of. Which of course means they know exactly how to hurt each other too.

“If you’re thinking about what Shaw would look like in a collar, join the club,” North said. “He’d look f***ing fantastic in one.”

GA does it again.

Hands Inside the Car

It’s another bumpy emotional roller coaster with a great whodunnit. Can’t wait to finish; never want it to end.

It would be five stars all around, if only ...

I love this book, I love North and Shaw, and HOLY CATS is Charlie David a terrific performer. So why only 4/5 stars for the performance? Because as good as it is, it suffers from repeated pronunciation mistakes, even of some words that IMO are fairly commonplace. Honestly, Mr. David owes it to himself to look up the pronunciation of any word he's less than 10000000% sure of, because the quality of his performance in every other respect is superb. It's almost worse when work of such high quality is marred by such easily avoided faults.

Well, I'm off to listen to the next in the series, with fingers crossed that someone else has held Mr. David's feet to the fire on this point.

Outstanding

The book is narrated by Charlie David who does an awesome job bringing this book to life. Sexy smooth voice that matches what you would expect from North and down to earth voice that matches Shaw's authentic self. I loved it and can't wait to hear the next one!!!

knew this series would be another hit with me since I loved the Hazard and Somerset series so much. I'm so in love with Greg’s writing. He has a real talent for drawing you in and keeping you there and I’m a huge fan of his storytelling ability. It’s almost poetic and it flows effortlessly, which I love because it speaks to my heart. The MCs are well developed and come with a lot of baggage however, these 2 had me laughing out loud and they have a very unique relationship.

The mystery element was clever and had me guessing 'til the end.

I'll definitely be continuing on with this series