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Boy Toy : A Mark Manning Mystery

Boy Toy : A Mark Manning Mystery

List Price: $13.95
Your Price: $10.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Super Read!
Review: If you like a murder mystery buy this book! If you want to read about a wonderful gay relationship buy this book. I've already order another book in the Mark Manning Series and I'm sure it won't be the last!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just about perfect
Review: It has been both interesting and gratifying to watch Michael Craft develop as a mystery writer. With his fifth Mark Manning installment, "Boy Toy," Craft truly hits full stride. Now that Michael Nava has retired from mystery writing and two other fine series by R.D. Zimmerman and J.M. Wilson seem to be on hold, Michael Craft steps to the forefront of the gay mystery genre.

Craft is ready, and "Boy Toy" really delivers. The plotting is airtight, and even though I was sure I had it figured out, a neat twist-ending proved me wrong. Craft has clearly done his homework in researching the forensics of this story, and it's safe to say I'll never again feel quite right about mushrooms. Craft also excels at characterization. Mark Manning, the hero-narrator, and his lover Neil have matured into a wonderful couple, two guys I'd love to have dinner with and know as friends. And their physical relationship now leaves NOTHING to the imagination.

All told, "Boy Toy" is just about perfect. I look forward to reading many more Mark Manning mysteries.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just about perfect
Review: It has been both interesting and gratifying to watch Michael Craft develop as a mystery writer. With his fifth Mark Manning installment, "Boy Toy," Craft truly hits full stride. Now that Michael Nava has retired from mystery writing and two other fine series by R.D. Zimmerman and J.M. Wilson seem to be on hold, Michael Craft steps to the forefront of the gay mystery genre.

Craft is ready, and "Boy Toy" really delivers. The plotting is airtight, and even though I was sure I had it figured out, a neat twist-ending proved me wrong. Craft has clearly done his homework in researching the forensics of this story, and it's safe to say I'll never again feel quite right about mushrooms. Craft also excels at characterization. Mark Manning, the hero-narrator, and his lover Neil have matured into a wonderful couple, two guys I'd love to have dinner with and know as friends. And their physical relationship now leaves NOTHING to the imagination.

All told, "Boy Toy" is just about perfect. I look forward to reading many more Mark Manning mysteries.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not bad, but definitely not the best
Review: It was a little too tongue-in-cheek for my taste. I prefer serious, no-nonsense stories and characters. I suppose what I disliked the most about this book is that the main character and his lover are the stereotypical gay über-affluent men that live in a huge gorgeous house, with time on their hands and money to burn. Not realistic enough for me.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not bad, but definitely not the best
Review: It was a little too tongue-in-cheek for my taste. I prefer serious, no-nonsense stories and characters. I suppose what I disliked the most about this book is that the main character and his lover are the stereotypical gay über-affluent men that live in a huge gorgeous house, with time on their hands and money to burn. Not realistic enough for me.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Cabot Cove, Maine ain't got a thing on Dumont, Wisconsin!
Review: Like TV's Jessica Fletcher, protagonist Mark Manning lives in a small midwestern town that seems to have its share of big city murders. The latest occurs on the opening night of a play performed by a local theater group. The death of the teen actor parallels the on-stage antics, thus setting up the premise for this installment in the series. Suspects with a motive for murdering the young star abound, chief among these is Manning's own son Thad. It is up to Mark, along with his lover Neil and pal Sheriff Pierce, to find the real killer in order to clear Thad's name.

The author embellishes the text with vivid character development, highly descriptive settings, and colorful dialogue. He subtly makes social commentary about the acceptance of individuals that are slightly "off-center" from what is considered the norm.

The body count is low in comparison to the best of the series, "Eye Contact," and the characters are as varied and interesting as those in the last, "Name Games." In fact, this novel is more closely related to "Body Language," the one that transplanted Chicagoan Manning to the Midwest. That one also first introduced Thad, as well as solidified the relationship between Mark and Neil.

"Boy Toy," like all in the ongoing mysteries surrounding Manning and friends, is a good read and likely to garner more fans of writer Craft.

The only "flaw" is the somewhat "utopian" community of Dumont. It is nice to find a town so refreshingly open-minded in its acceptance of Mark and Neil, but we know that doesn't happen too often in real life. Also, after having had the last three novels take place in the little metropolis, it's time now for Manning to have a little action in a more urban municipality. It's time to take the show "on the road."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Passions
Review: Mark Manning's adopted son Thad becomes the prime suspect when the fellow lead in a local play is found murdered. Mark, with the help of his friends and lover Neil, must untangle the complex motivations to find out who actually killed the boy Jason, and clear Thad before the community acts on its popular opinions. The strength of the Manning series is the relationship between Mark and Neil, as well as the parent-child relationship they have with Thad. There's just nothing else like it! It's not often where we get to read about a male couple's love, emotionally and physically. Meanwhile, the mystery plot twists and swerves to an unexpected conclusion. Leave it to Michael Craft to continue surprising his fans and raising the bar for modern mysteries and gay fiction.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another excellent book by Michael Craft!
Review: Michael Craft has done it again. This is an excellent mystery novel. Mark Manning owns the local newspaper. His nephew, Thad, (really his cousin) is starring in local play when "Life imitates Theater". Thad made an idle threat to another actor in the play. This was witnessed by the entire cast. When the other person later died, Thad was the prime suspect of just about everyone. Mark had to come to the rescue to save Thad. You will not regret buying this book. You will also not be able to put it down. I hope there will be more in this series.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good Storytelling, Poor Mystery
Review: Michael Craft is a great storyteller. Citing just three of his novels: (1) "Body Language," (2) "Boy Toy," and (3) "Hot Spot,"which should be read in this order for the best continuity, I found the novels less engaging as mystery novels and more delightful to read as well-drawn out expositions of life in the small town of Dumont, WI, where practically everyone is normal, even gays. The mysteries, qua mystery, lack the usual heightened suspense one expects from this genre. But, the diminution of suspense is more than compensated by good character development, well-structured plots, engaging personae, and a literate writing style. The fact that some of the characters are gay seems incidental and relatively unimportant, which in a idealistic fashion, is the way it ought to be. These are good people to whom the misfortune of crime occurs, and Mark Manning, the local newspaper editor and the central character, seems equipoised to solving the crime. There's no "mining" of the text with incredulous characters or situations to bring about the near-impossibility of solving the caper. Rather, through the use of intuition, inference, and critical thinking, Manning always seems to get to the core of the crime with a flair for being ordinary and going about matters in a normal sort of way in the sleepy Wisconsin hamlet. Those who enjoy up-and-close personal stories about "ordinary" people struck by "ordinary" misfortune with "mystery" as a somewhat subsidiary part of this ordinary existence will like these novels. There's nothing that is strikingly out of the ordinary. Those who want a "D'Vinci Code," on the other hand, will be sorely disappointed. I found the novels exceedingly likeable, and I was not disappointed that the mystery involved is in many ways subordinate to plot, character-development, and literate style.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Delicious!
Review: Michael Craft just keeps getting better. There are more twists and turns in the plot of this murder mystery than in an English hedge maze. Everyone's a suspect, everyone has an angle, and Mark Manning has to solve it. Buy it, read it - buy all five books.


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