Home › Review › Willing Flesh

Willing Flesh

Review 38
, , , ,

Title: Willing Flesh
Author: J.S. Cook
Publisher: MLR Press
Buy Link: Buy Link Willing Flesh
Genre: M/M historical mystery romance
Length: 296 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

A guest review by Jenre

Summary Review
Dark murky goings on in Victorian London are brought to life in this engaging mystery with a couple of likeable heroes.

BLURB

When a series of bizarre murders occur in London’s notorious East End, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Philemon Raft is called on to solve the crimes, but even he is powerless to explain why the victims are displayed in public places — or why the killer insists on drilling burr holes in their skulls. With little to go on except the strange red dust found on the victims’ palms, Raft must scour the city looking for an explanation. Aided only by his newly-appointed constable Freddie Crook, Raft’s investigation takes him into London’s most dark and dangerous places, where human predators wait to devour and destroy.

But Raft has an even bigger problem: a casual acquaintance is blackmailing him, and what she knows about his secrets could tear Raft’s life to pieces.

REVIEW

Those of you who like historical mysteries are in for a treat with Willing Flesh. It’s a dark and murky tale of murder in Victorian London. Inspector Raft of Scotland yard is called on to investigate a series of gruesome murders where the victims are killed and then their skulls are drilled into. With the help of his new constable, Freddie, Raft is drawn deep into the back streets of the East End, where even the aristocracy isn’t safe from the murderer’s long arm, and where blackmail, male prostitution and poisonings complicate Raft’s case – as does his attraction to Freddie.

One of the things that struck me most about this book was the wonderful setting of Victorian London. We are never told the year, but given some of the Victorian inventions in the book (lifts?) I am guessing that the book takes place late in the 1800’s. Although the city is there as a backdrop, there isn’t any excessive description of places. Instead London is brought to life by the many people who pass through the book’s pages. From whores to children, police officers and surgeons, rent boys and nobility, the people in the book create London for the reader, personalising the book and easily pulling me into the story. Unfortunately this strength could also be seen to be one of the book’s weaknesses because there are so many characters in this story, many of whom only appear for only a few pages, that I sometimes lost track of who was who, and more vitally who was important to the story and needed to be remembered.

One character I couldn’t fail to remember is Inspector Raft. He’s a hard working – and hard put on – police officer who spends much of the book chasing down loose ends, getting frustrated as the bodies begin to pile up, not sleeping well, getting attacked and generally behaving with a mix of tenacity and world-weariness that many great detectives seem to share. Added to this is Raft’s terror over the fact that someone should discover he is gay, especially in the light of the recent Labouchere Amendment to the law which meant that any man caught in a homosexual act could be subject to 2 years hard labour. The thought of being caught and prosecuted for ‘gross indecency’ fills Raft with dread and he spends much of the book worrying about it. On the other hand Raft’s constable, Freddie, is a constant temptation to Raft, especially since Freddie doesn’t seem to be as concerned as Raft over the new amendment. I had a great deal of fun reading about their developing relationship and I liked that the emotional Raft found an anchor in the steadier Freddie.  I also liked the way that their investigative techniques were very different and further complemented their relationship, plus I liked that Freddie had his own story to tell and was therefore much more than the ‘love interest/sidekick’.

The mystery itself is a complex meandering thing which brings in lots of characters and threads and loose ends and then gradually pulls them all together to make a clean and satisfying ending – one where I failed to guess the murderer until the reveal. Having said that, I felt that the sub-plot regarding the male prostitutes sat uneasily with the main murder mystery and I don’t think it would have harmed the book any had that sub-plot been dropped. It was hard enough at times to follow the main threads of the mystery without that secondary plot to muddy the waters.  The murder mystery is also a bit gruesome in places – so a warning there to those faint-hearted readers.   One aspect which I felt was underused was the paranormal leanings of Raft and I await to see whether more will be made of that in subsequent books.

Overall, this was a complicated and compelling historical mystery with unusual and interesting characters in Raft and Freddie. The author has certainly garnered my attention for the series and I look forward to reading the next book. Until then I recommend Willing Flesh to those readers who like historicals and want to get their teeth into a knotty mystery.

Author

Jenre

http://www.gayromance.org/members/jenre/

Related Posts

38 comments

  • “I recommend Willing Flesh to those readers who like historicals and want to get their teeth into a knotty mystery.”

    That would be me. 😀 Thanks Jenre for the in depth review of what sounds like a promising new series.

  • I’ve only just started reading this and was already enthralled by Raft and Freddie. Sherlock Holmes meets Irma La Douce, verily! Now that I’ve read your review, I’m even more looking forward to continue that fine story
    😉

    F.

    • They’re just great characters, aren’t they, Feliz? I liked them both from the get-go and I may just have fallen a bit for the lovely Freddie :).

  • I’m sold! Mystery (yeah, even the gruesome part), Victorian setting, romance… oh, yeah! Thank you for bringing this book to my attention!

  • Oooo, sounds very promising. I love Sherlock Holmes stories, but they always had me wanting something with m/m twist. And while you can hardly imagine Arthur Conan Doyle writing something like that J.C. Cook seems to have definitely filled the void. Off to buy 😀
    P.S. I noticed that author has two more murder/mystery books. I wonder if there are any good.

    • Hi Helena, I have read Paragon of Animals and while I liked that one very much, I found the characters in this one to be drawn quite similar to the previous series, I wish they would have more differences than similarities.

      • Yeah, I saw that and also its prequel – “A Cold Blood Scoundrel”, but could not find any e-books, only kindle (do not like) and paperback… 🙁
        Another one on my TBR list is “Because you despite me”, but yes, from what I could gather reading synopsis and excerpts, main characters are pretty much the same type. Hopefully content will make up for such similarities.

    • LOL, Hellga. Yes all the homo-eroticism in SH books is brought to life here. In fact there is a character in this book who is a bit like Sherlock Holmes :).

      I haven’t read any other JS Cook books so I can’t comment on the previous mysteries.

  • Feliz, great review! I was wondering did you find Inspector Raft’s paranormal ability to be a little out of place or did it work for you?

    • I swear I am not drinking anything or anything like this. That was meant to say JENRE thank you for the great review, oy.

    • Hi Sirius

      Yes, I did a little but I want to reserve judgement on that one until I’ve read more in the series. It could be that this book is only a set-up for the paranormal leanings of Raft and that it will be explored more as the books progress. I certainly think there’s scope for that.

      I’ll forgive you for getting my name wrong ;).

    • Oh no, I thought Because you despise me was truly excellent read Hellga – characters, plot, settings, everything. It is actually a twist on Cassablanka, very well done imo.

  • Jen
    Great review for what looks like a wonderful new series. I love murder mysteries as you know, so I can’t wait to read Willing Flesh. I’ll check with MLR for the upcoming book. I should warn you though that their release dates are not as reliable as other pubs. so it could be another month again before we see the next book.

    I understand what you mean about the sub plot if there was so much going on already in the main plot. Sometimes authors don’t know when to stop, but what do I know? I’m not an author. 🙂

    • Hi Wave

      I shall eagerly await the next book. I hope you enjoy this one once you get to reading it. I know you love mysteries so this should be just the ticket for you :).

  • We are a little flexible in our release schedule but sometimes creativity takes more time. JoAnne’s next in the Inspector Raft series, Rag and Bone, is in the final proofing stage so we’re within 2 weeks or so of release. Raft and Freddie will get to deal with all kinds of goings on.

    Glad you all enjoyed Willing Flesh.

    Total side note – Wave? Where in God’s name did that image come from that’s appearing next to my comment?

  • Ooooh, this is right up my alley, Jen — hits all of my buttons. Thanks for the fab review. I am so getting it.

  • I’m for sure getting this one tomorrow (Tuesday). I’ve just now realized that I am buying 3 books tomorrow! Oh well. Fun for me. Great review Jenre. Oh no I just remembered Tamara Allen’s book came out today. 😮

  • I started Willing Flesh this morning and wanted to how much I enjoyed your review, which immediately had me running to All Romance and purchasing it.

    I’m only half way so can’t really comment fully, except to say I’m really enjoying it. There are a couple of things that haven’t yet been explained – one, you mentioned, the paranormal aspect which I hope will form a greater part of the next novel, as well as Raft’s meandering, pattering aloud thoughts. To me it almost feels like a disorder perhaps not yet diagnosed in the era, like Aspergers or autism. But I could be totally reading too much into it:) Already I’m looking forward to the next installment in the series!

  • I loved this one and am loving the next installment in the series – Rag And Bone – as well. The plot is complex as are the characters. I found myself having to pay very close attention to the details of the investigation. It’s very interesting how there is so much attention paid to the seedy side of “men’s clubs” in London from a legal perspective that Raft and Freddie must uphold while at the same time they are developing an intimate relationship (which is very hot and erotic by the way). I really like how the author reveals some layers of Freddie and Raft yet also leaves us with more questions about their pasts, secrets and personalities in general. Hope there is many in this series.

Comments are closed.