The Peripheral Son (A Dick Hardesty Mystery) by Dorien Grey
It’s not the first time Dorien Grey manages to have me worry for a character who we readers haven’t really met. I think last time was for the missing man of His Name is John, and this time is Victor, the man Dick Hardesty is hired to find. From pieces of info here and there, it comes out the character of a man I wouldn’t have minded to know, and I bet you will be moved almost to tear when you will reach to toy truck point and its sad story. As often in a Dorien Grey’s mystery, the pace is quiet more than hurried, and it’s mostly a thing of Dick meetings and having lunch with a variety of different men, from former lovers, friends, suspects and so on. The net of people around Dick Hardesty is tight and filled like a metro at hit time, and he has an ace for every occasion.
The author also likes to test the memory of the recurrent reader, leaving hint here and there of previous cases, but not in an heavily manner so that, if you haven’t read all the series, you are not bothered by them, on the contrary, are like pretty lace to the rich velvet that is the current story, but if you are a faithful reader of the series, they make you smile like you are meeting again old friends you haven’t seen in years.
As I told in my previous reviews about this series, more than the mystery I like the romance between Dick and Jonathan. They are now officially a family, raising Jonathan’s orphaned nephew, Joshua, and having settled in a ordinary routine. But that is not something tiring and I’m not worried Dick will regret to having a monogamous relationship with Jonathan, since often the author let the reader know that Dick is plenty satisfied by Jonathan in all his needs, and he has no reason to wander around in search of something more or different. Dick is also very taken by his role of Joshua’s co-parent, and even if I seem to remember it was Jonathan who pushed for it, I didn’t feel as Dick is regretting the choice.
The Peripheral Son is a bittersweet mystery, mostly since it seems like the missing man, Victor, comes from a very sad past experience, and doesn’t seem to have to come to terms with it. He seems like a man in stasis, waiting for something to happen, and I don’t feel like, at the end of the story, he managed to reach that “something”.
http://www.zumayapublications.com/title.php?id=276
Amazon: The Peripheral Son: A Dick Hardesty Mystery
Amazon Kindle: The Peripheral Son: A Dick Hardesty Mystery
Paperback: 252 pages
Publisher: Zumaya Boundless (October 31, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1936144107
ISBN-13: 978-1936144105
Series: Dick Hardesty Series
1) The Butcher's Son
2) The 9th Man
3) The Bar Watcher
4) The Hired Man
5) The Good Cop: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1141177.html
6) The Bottle Ghosts
7) The Dirt Peddler
8) The Role Players
9) The Popsicle Tree: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1278795.html
10) The Paper Mirror
11) The Dream Ender
12) The Angel Singers: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/759151.html
13) The Secret Keeper
14) The Peripheral Son
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle
Cover Art by April Martinez