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Skyler Foxe Mysteries - Haley Walsh
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Skyler Foxe was a character I picked up with some hesitation. Young and callow and sort of closeted and slutty - all sorts of things a man of my generation finds troublesome...and yet Haley Walsh has managed to create a character with humor, self-awareness, personal integrity (however flawed) and a big heart. By the end of the first volume of this triology, I knew I'd have to buy and read not only the two companion volumes (linked by cliff-hanger endings), but also the Christmas bonus volume which is really about the relationship between Skyler and Keith Fletcher, the football coach at the high school where Foxe teaches English literature.There is a touching verisimilitude to Walsh's trilogy, because it is set in Redlands, CA, where she herself grew up and which she loves in spite of its small-town conservatism at the heart of San Bernadino County, the "Inland Empire" of southern Cali. She creates a broad cast of supporting players in Skyler's 25-year-old life, and they are vivid and lovable and just right. I recommend the whole series.
Just a shout-out to those who are fond of blond-cutey sleuth Skyler Foxe ... book four in the series is due out at MLR Press on 24 January ...just a couple of sleeps to go folks.
PaperMoon wrote: "Just a shout-out to those who are fond of blond-cutey sleuth Skyler Foxe ... book four in the series is due out at MLR Press on 24 January ...just a couple of sleeps to go folks."
Arrgh. ONE MORE DAY. Been looking forward to this, plus Haley has friended me on facebook...my literary network grows. How are you, dear Papermoon - many moons since I heard a peep from you...busy with school, I'm sure...
Hey Ulysses .... one more day indeed! Sorry for the long absence - went overseas after slogging through final exams and then dived into a post-hols blues. That plus given the ho-hum quality of several holiday reads, made me very unmotivated to write anything encouraging about them hah!Glad to be back - and kudos to you for keeping up with the many many reviews and reccies.
FOXE FIRE 
Skyler, Skyler, Skyler … when will you learn to let the professionals do their thing and stop putting yourself into harm’s way? I guess there will be no story if he did that of course, after all, how much trouble can happen to a high school English literature teacher with a ‘have a good time party-boy’ past? Hah. This fourth book in Walsh’s series picks up a couple of months after Skyler and Keith has been ‘outed’ in their workplace/community and we find the them trying to adjust to each other as ‘boyfriends’ (less than a year really) since they cohabitate in Skyler’s flat.
As per the title, the crime/danger elements come in the form of increasing arson activity combined with Skyler’s propensity to place himself (deliberately or otherwise) where the flaming action is at. As the fiery threats escalate to murder, a host of new characters are introduced to provide the usual suspects/red herrings - hunky firemen, new school teachers, troubled students and their dysfunctional families/parents etc. The plot flows at a snappy pace, filled with the usual banter and snark readers have come to expect from Skyler’s interactions with his gay friendship coterie (the SFC of course!) and his BFF - law enforcement agent Sidney.
What I miss is the ‘collaborative’ derring-do and subterfuge prevalent in the earlier books between Skyler and Keith; understandable since Keith is no longer working as an undercover FBI agent. Consequently, Walsh has to take the relational conflicts between our MCs out from their professional environment and move it into their personal/private space. This shift does provide much fodder for significant character development, especially for Skyler, who is forced to confront several issues and demons he’s been avoiding to date. Keith’s over-protectiveness and control freak issues is less well explored and hopefully the author will tackle this in subsequent books of the series.
Staying with the personal front, Skyler’s other parent (merely alluded to in previous volumes) make a full-on ‘in the flesh’ appearance. I did feel the bitterness and years of estrangement were resolved a little too easily/quickly though. Likewise, I don’t appreciate why M-M romance writers need to provide romance-elements for ALL secondary gay/straight friends (as if they’d be missing out on what the MCs are experiencing) … we all have single (read not in relationships) friends in real life and not all are desperately seeking a mate nor want to dive into one; some are content enjoying their current single existence thank you very much.
Such quibbles aside, this was an enjoyable read and satisfactorily moves Skyler and Keith’s relationship to a new stage and the author wisely keeps the hawt sex to sensible non-distractive levels (I did not get to that eye-rolling ‘here we go again’ stage as I do with some other authors). And I’m definitely looking forward to the next book in the series, advertised by the author as being released sometime this year, entitled Desert Foxe – see http://apmassie.com/foxe-fire-by-hale... . Bring on more Skyler and Co.! Yay!
Skyler Foxe is a twink with a heart of gold. He loves teaching high school English, he loves his friends (all of whom he's slept with except for his childhood friend Sidney, who's a woman and a cop) and he, well, thinks he loves his football-coach boyfriend Keith. But this wouldn't be a Skyler Foxe mystery without a mystery - indeed a series of brush fires in too-dry California and a murder that seems oddly oddly linked to Skyler and his life. Anyone who's read any of these will know that Skyler can't keep his cute little twink butt out of trouble, especially where his friends or his students are concerned.
Haley Walsh gives us good people to care about; an interesting plot to try to unravel (or not, depending on your style); and at the center of it all is a young man just beginning to understand the adult concepts of love and friendship and fidelity and trust.
Walsh writes well, with humor and just the right touch of emotion. The romantic part of this book is crucial - but is mixed nicely into the larger narrative, so that it feels integral and not simply an expected ingredient. Nothing in this series is accidental, and nothing can be removed without spoiling the whole thing. That's the way you write a book.
I have to say I took great objection upon seeing the cover for Fabian Black's - Destiny Calling.I know many of these covers are mocked up from stock pics but this model has become Skyler Foxe for me and I had a WTF (identity theft!) moment upon chancing across this:
It makes me worry that sooner or later - someone is also going to 'steal' the identity of the guy who fronts as Victor Bayne in Jordan Castillo Price's PsyCop series.
Wow...yes, unnerving. Remember, also, that Matt Bomer appears on a cover of one of Alex Sanchez's wonderful "Rainbow Boys" books. Before he was anybody.http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Boys-Al...
OMG it's the body snatchers at work big time. Skyler has been kidnapped and cloned (reminds of Dr Goldfoot and his bikini machine) ...
When will the horror stop???
Well guess who's come out in time for Christmas?? Desert Foxe
I've downloaded and rarin' to go! Thanks Ms Walsh!
Coming from an YA educational setting myself – I totally get Skyler’s reluctance to out himself at school where homophobic virulence is as good as it comes from the ranks of protective parents, power-hungry staff and law-suit averse administration. There’s some nice interplay between Skyler and some of his gay and gay-friendly students, and there’s to be expected antagonism from the sports teaching and conservative Christian staff ranks – but I was delighted by Skyer's developing relationship with his school principle.
Walsh forewarns readers that whilst each book is self-contained i.e. the mystery is solved – there are over-arching plot threads which go right through the trilogy and so I will have to find out whether Skyler and fellow teacher Keith ‘make it’ in their relationship when I get the third volume from Book Depository; likewise with Keith’s mysterious past and puzzling secrets. Skyler’s character growth over the course of the two books (Foxe Tail and Foxe Hunt) so far was realistically drawn – his fear of commitment, his internalised homophobia, his coming out to staff and parent.
When I opened the first pages of Foxe Tail, I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed upon discovering Walsh thanking Neil Plakcy for his editing assistance – the books were a thoroughly satisfying reading experience for me.