Title: Sins of Profession (A Creature of Sins Series )
Author: India Harper
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Publisher: Amber Quill Press
Buy Link: Buy Link Sins Of Profession
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance / Mystery / Suspense/ BDSM
Length: 43,000 words
Rating: 3 out of 5 rating stars
A Guest Review by Raine
Summary Review: Though it was good to revisit Zone 6, I thought this investigation of murders within the porn film industry an unconvincing addition to the series.
Blurb: Detective Mike Finesterre thought he knew what he was getting into when he joined Zone Six, home to Pittsburgh PD’s problem children and officers in the rough. But the department has a reputation for good work, despite their sometimes unorthodox methods. Mike’s just happy to be off the beat, even if it’s not much fun being the new guy. He doesn’t get to dwell on his rookie status for long, however, when he’s thrown in the deep end of undercover work investigating a string of murders surrounding Magnum Studio’s hot young porn stars.
Lucas McAndrews loves sex. He wouldn’t be a professional gigolo otherwise, although the money doesn’t exactly hurt. Operating on the fringes of the law, he’s had several occasions to collaborate with the police…sometimes quite willingly. Zone Six is investigating murders involving a local porn studio and needs someone intimately familiar with the sex industry as their inside man. Lucas is happy to help, especially when he meets the department’s newest recruit, the quick-to-blush Detective Mike Finesterre.
Growing attraction soon takes a back seat as Mike, not Lucas, finds himself in the limelight, and catching the eye of porn legend Long John Fenton, a man who will have things his way. Not to mention the fact that there’s a murderer on the loose, one who is closer than anyone thinks…
Review:
I was rather disappointed with this new addition to the Creatures of Sin series. I haven’t read them all, but the ones I have, I enjoyed. I reviewed Sins of Influence here and found it to be intelligent and well written.
Unfortunately the relationship between the delightful professional sex worker, Lucas, who has appeared enthusiastically in other books in the series and the newbie Mike Finesterre just was not totally believable. Once again we have a mutual instant attraction leading to big decisions over a short period of time. This was a minor irritation. However I also found Mike’s sexual personality all over the place, self proclaimed as inexperienced and vanilla, he still rims Lucas who is surprised by the experience after being a sex worker from the age of nineteen and having had numerous threesomes with two other characters in the book…..I don’t think so. Moreover while being very interested in Lucas, after an obvious problem situation with him, Mike still has a friendly one night stand with a porn film actor.
The investigation side of the story didn’t convince me either. Mike’s expanded under cover role seemed unlikely and one particular blow job….never thought I’d say this… somewhat gratuitous- maybe it was meant to be ironic homage to the genre. Though his comment about filming a porn scene was wryly funny.
” Trust me. It’s like sausage.You don’t want to see it made.”
The level of investigation was lack lustre. The department certainly underachieved here, with a fairly obvious conclusion.
I liked meeting the characters from Zone 6 again, but the socialising and gossip felt repetitive, possibly because we were seeing through Mike’s eyes things we knew already.The cameo performances seemed a little perfunctory and rushed, as if this story was an interruption of something else going on off page.
I have invested interest in these characters and although personally unconvinced by the relationship, being a soft touch, I was somehow still pleased that Lucas and Mike got together. However I’m hoping the next book is a return to form for all concerned.
Hey maybe Mike was studying to be a sex worker and was keeping it under wraps till moment arrived? 🙂
Nah, not for me, thanks for saving me money 🙂
This is another one that I don’t think you’d care for. 🙂
I like series that explore the relationships of different characters that are all part of the same social group but I agree this installment is weak.
One of the things I found interesting was the flirting between two of the female characters in the group. I’ve never read a F/F book before, but it might be interesting if Creatures of Sin did a little side story focusing on the women.
Hello Diane,
I like this group a lot, though my favourite has always been Carver. I just didn’t think anything particularly fresh came up with them, aside from as you say that F/F flirting which might lead to something else. As Mike was new to the group a lot of stuff was reintroduced that I already knew about, I think this far into the series you have to loosen up on the stand alone idea, or recap more subtly.
The only F/F I’ve read was a Lucius Parhelion historical, which I confess I bought by mistake, I got the title wrong 😕 …….but I enjoyed it very much, but then I’d read anything by Parhelion. 😀