The Secret Tunnel

Be forwarded I have gone and picked up a racy novel again, so if your faint of heart don’t read on. Ha!

After an Agatha break it is onto the latest James Lear novel. As I am doing a feature on him this has arrived as a delightfully early advance copy from Cleis Press and the man behind James Lear (no pun intended) Rupert Smith so I thank them both most kindly. Now if you have read my previous blog you will know that James Lear writes erotic fiction mixed with a good slice of crime, well at least for the Mitch Mitchell books, and this is the second. You will also know that bar Anais Nin I have always pooh-poohed erotica as being trash, James Lear proved me wrong and he has succeeded in doing so again.

The Secret Tunnel is set roughly a year or so down the line from The Back Passage. Mitch Mitchell has moved to Edinburgh and is going on the Flying Scotsman to visit his best friend and married ‘on off’ lover Boy Morgan in London. Mitch doesn’t enjoy travelling alone finding that he gets bored, however on this journey he won’t - and not just from the attractive staff and passengers. Of course not long into the journey someone gets murdered and Mitch sees it as his chance to play at detective again, what he believes is his true vocation.

Naturally with a James Lear novel there is heaps of sex, again following his ‘an orgasm a chapter minimal’ rule of thumb. Again this is part of the story not just an add-on for thrills though some of it is indeed thrilling. The sex takes you along with the plot and becomes and integral part of the whole novel. We also get to meet a whole new host of characters like dizzy starlet Daisy Athenasy and stowaway and Mitch’s new sidekick Bertrand from Belgium.

If your thinking all the action takes place on the Flying Scotsman then you would be wrong as we are taken into the decadence of 30’s/40’s London where the motley crew of investigators get taken on even more thrills and spills through royal connections and the theatre lovelies. The whole novel ends far too quickly in a very climatic twist. I once again really enjoyed this James Lear novel and would recommend it to fans of crime as well as fans of all things fruity.

The Back Passage

Now for those of you who might have a nervous disposition shouldn’t read on as this blog is about quite a racy novel. Yes I have delved in to the world of erotica in my latest read, something that I have to say I don’t do very often. Erotica on the whole can be pretty appalling for a start there is invariably absolutely no plot what so ever, and if there is one its pretty lame, unless of course you are Anais Nin who one of my friends Polly loves. I know the author (real name Rupert Smith) and was also doing a feature on him for work so I hesitantly dipped my toe into the world of erotica and the world of Mitch Mitchell… and loved it.

The scene is set in the countryside on a weekend away for Mitch Mitchell to celebrate his friend Boy’s betrothal. Once he arrives a murder takes place and Mitch starts to detect that things may not be as they seem and that everyone in the country house has a secret or seven hidden away.

Now it being erotica there is a high amount of sex in it, in fact the author states he isn’t happy unless he has ‘at least one orgasm in every chapter’ for the characters, and maybe for the readers himself. It is graphic and raunchy but it never seems unnecessary or crude it helps the plot move forward be it a policeman who has information or a butler who has access to all the rooms in the house… Mitch will do what is necessary, and fun for him, to find out whodunit.

The book also has humour by the bucket load so while you are gripped with the mystery of the murder, and getting involved in the never ending sex life of Mitch, you also find yourself laughing and just getting through the book before you know it. Not only is there humour and a plot but fabulous characters. Mitch is a loveable American wannabe detective who deep down is looking for love but is happy with anything he finds along the way. You also have a host of other characters like queeny Leonard Eagle, hard done by Meeks and the sadistic cop Kennington. As the author says its ‘Agatha Christie with c**k’. Sorry if that’s offended anyone, but you did read on!
If you like a good old fashioned murder mystery or you just like a juicy racy number then this is a great novel. You laugh, you get hooked, and you try and work it all out whilst having a very jolly read. Some people would say that erotica is not a form of literature; I would suggest to all of them that they read a James Lear.

Service Wash

One of the regulars at Polari is Rupert Smith and I decided that I should give one of his books a go, and Service Wash was the first on the list in Amazon. So I bought the book a few weeks ago and have been waiting for the perfect time to sit back and enjoy it, and after the Holocaust and beheading of Anne Boleyn I thought it was time for a book about celebrity.

I would just like to say I love the cover, though it has nothing to do with the actual story, I just think it’s a brilliant retro cheeky cover. Sorry I digress. This is the story of Eileen Weathers (who would be played fabulously by Ann Mitchell of Widows fame) who is like a younger Vera Duckworth kind of soap legend. She is at the peak of her fame and writing an autobiography that’s going seriously wrong, so Six Books part fo the soap franchise hire Paul Mackrell to ghost write it, Paul isn’t having much luck with literature and so decides to give it a go. What follows is a farce of mayhem, money and murder.

I really enjoyed this novel it made a nice break to have a book on the go that made me laugh and was all about the complexities and materialism of celebrity not some harrowing complex tale of loss love and betrayal – which I love you just need a break sometimes. Some people call this throwaway literature or a ‘good holiday read’ I call it entertainment as it entertained me for a good several hours.

Smith writes this book with a knowing edge, he has indeed ghost written an autobiography, written several TV-tie-in books and other novels you feel there is a lot of him in Paul. I would recommend this when you want some frivolous fun.