Foxe Tail (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #1)

Title: Foxe Tail (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #1)
Author: Haley Walsh and Joel Leslie (Narrator)
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: April 14th 2015
Genre(s): M/M Contemporary Mystery
Length: 8 hrs 9 mins
Reviewed by: Belen
Heat Level: 3 flames out of 5
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Blurb:

Gay teacher Skyler Foxe thought teaching English Lit was murder. Wait till he falls into the real thing.

Skyler Foxe is a brand new English teacher in his hometown of Redlands, CA. He loves literature, loves his students, loves his friends, especially his best friend Detective Sidney Feldman. But he doesn’t love keeping his orientation a secret, afraid of the backlash in this conservative county. But will murder thrust him into unwanted limelight? Who killed his principal’s son outside a gay dance club? And what’s the connection to James Polk High? Is the macho football coach or his mysterious and gorgeous new assistant coach involved? Can Skyler trust anyone at the high school when there seems to be conspiracies around every corner?

I will be the first to admit I love a good cozy mystery and that I am an unabashed Jessica Fletcher fan. So when I saw this M/M cozy mystery come up in audio I was all over it like it was a cheeseburger and I was starving.

So please imagine my glee when I not only get the amateur sleuth solving what a whole police department can’t type mystery, but I also get a fantastic new narrator, Joel Leslie, giving me a totally entertaining performance with major kudos for the narration and character voices.

Note there are actually two mysteries happening here: The main mystery involving MURDER and then a something-weird-is-happening side mystery at the high school that ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and apparently plays into Book #2 Foxe Hunt.

Onto MURDER! When Skyler Foxe and his best friend, Detective Sydney Sheldon, go to a club one night the last thing Skyler expects is to find a dead body. Then, when Skyler finds out the dead guy is his school principal’s son he decides to pursue his own investigation.

This definitely has some of the elements I love about cozy mysteries, but it has other parts that had me scratching my head. The unlikely amateur detective, in this case high school English teacher Skyler, has only the most tenuous connection to the case, which made me wonder why he was involved and delving deeper into the mystery regardless of the danger that keeps coming his way. I just didn’t buy Skyler’s connection to Wesley Sherman, Jr. or his reasoning behind his pursuit of the sleuthing. Also, there were quite a few moments where I was listening with eyebrows raised as to how a clue or situation passed Skyler’s clumsy investigative notice. Let’s just say this: Jessica Fletcher or Sherlock Holmes he is not.

However, Walsh writes with humor and introduces enough interesting characters (May I please have some more of Jim the Viking and his many, many piercings, pretty please?) to keep me fascinated. It’s hooked me enough that I’ll definitely come back for more in Book #2 Foxe Hunt.

Bottom Line: I was absolutely, thoroughly and completely entertained by Joel Leslie’s narration. He reminds me of the old-timey radio dramas in all the grand almost-over-the-top best ways. More than anything else I’ll come back just to listen to Joel some more.