#Jon's Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

olderthannetfic · 2 years

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Could you shout out a couple of your favourite m/m authors or books, please? (nw if you don’t like reccing things tho, I find it stressful myself.)

I also find the one ship per book in a series not my cup of tea tbh. I find it too jarring to switch over to other characters I’m not as emotionally invested in within a world.

I don't mind side stories that wrap up supporting characters' romances, but I tend to like a main series that's about the same characters/ship most of the time.

I recced a few in response to another ask. That should be posting... some time. (You can tell how well I keep track of my queue.)

Who haven't I mentioned... let's see... Jenn Burke's Not Dead Yet series is pretty interesting, though it eventually angered me with a side character death.

E.J. Russell has a lot of books with different ships but that are all in the same universe. They work better for me than most such books because there's an urban fantasy arc plot about missing fae running through them. Some are a bit too ultra-fluff for my taste. Many are pretty funny. A lot of them feature things like supernatural dating agencies or event planners.

Integrate by Thea Hayworth is only available on Smashwords and is a one-off, but I can't say no to an alien-human buddy cop duo. Both the case and the romance are reasonably fleshed out for this short length, and the worldbuilding is fascinating. I want more! Come back usually-fic-author and write original!

I enjoyed AJ Sherwood's Jon's Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case and sequels/stuff in the same universe.

I've only checked out Beth Bolden a little bit. I met her at a conference, and she seems cool. (Definitely a recent fic fandom person, like many of us writing original m/m.) I read part of a boy band romance of hers that she admitted was 1D with the serial numbers filed. Filed well, I might add: the original version is sufficiently SoCal that I wasn't positive which boy band it was riffing off of. But what I really enjoyed was her fairytale-ish fantasy novel Yours, Forever After.

Meghan Maslow's Starfig Investigations was an instant favorite for me. I'm not sure if younger people will even be familiar with the genre of fantasy it is. It didn't click for me until I heard her talking about it, but the series is basically a take off of Robert Asprin's Myth series: oldschool secondary world fantasy full of dumb puns and jokes that only make sense in relation to the real world. Like that series, Maslow's features portals between realms and a lot of magic tech in advanced cities even if the trappings are Ren Faire-ish. The sense of humor style was pretty common in early 90s sff publishing and turns up in old games like Monkey Island, but it's not something I see all that much in m/m fantasy novels.

Harper Fox's Tyack & Frayne series is about a cop and a psychic in small town Cornwall. Lots of pagan vibes in this one, and some of the supernatural stuff picks up as the series goes along, but the basic structure is contemporary British mysteries.

The Plumber's Mate series by J.L. Merrow is a much more comedic take on UK village mysteries. I'm not usually into stories where people end up with their bully from school, but I liked how it was handled here. The side characters are a hoot, especially the camp best friend and the dwarf porn star turned vegetable salesman.

Morgan Brice I'm not as fond of, but she has a bunch of series including one that feels like early seasons Supernatural.

I don't think I ever read the sequels to My Zombie Boyfriend by T. Strange. It's... well... about a dude who finds a hot corpse and decides to revive him as a zombie. The lead is a weird little perv with an ex who's a goth mortician, a horrible undead pet cat, and an obsession for his new zombie project. I found this one while looking for creepy books after reading one too many bits of ultra-fluff with barely any plot.

I was enjoying the Hours of the Night series by Irene Preston and Liv Rancourt, but it seems like they stopped writing it without resolving anything? A lot of the books I've read are good but would have been better with more sequels, so they don't spring to mind here.

There are seriously a shitton of writers working in this space. I just found a few authors and started trying books and seeing what else was on the same goodreads lists and so on. You need to have a tolerance for hideous cover art, but plenty of the actual books are fine.

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dragonsorceress22 · 2 years

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Pride Month Recs - Day 3

Do you like modern/urban fantasy? Do you like mysteries? Do you like mlm representation? Then might I invite you to indulge in AJ Sherwood's Jon's Mysteries book series?

I cannot hype the audiobook versions of these enough (though the first one has a different narrator from the other three, and the other three are much better). But I've listened to all four over and over again.

Not going to lie, they're not brilliant pieces of writing but they ARE Very Indulgent. I love the characters (which makes the whump SO delightful~) 💕

Sometimes indulgent inclusive popcorn reading is exactly what you need!

(Don’t forget to check out your local library for a wealth of free reading, watching, and listening!)

#jon's mysteries #aj sherwood #pride #lgbtq+#mlm books #book rec #audiobook #bi representation #DS recommends

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accio-victuuri · 4 years

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M/M Recommendations Part V

Title : Jon’s downright ridiculous shooting case ( Jon’s Mysteries )

Author : AJ Sherwood

This book and the series itself is PURE GOLD. It keeps getting better and better and I honestly can’t wait for more installments of this story. So, here we have Jon ( Jonathan Bane ) who works with the police as a human lie detector— using his gift as a Psychic. He can tell a lot about a person because he’s able to see their Aura. He fries any electronics near him, he has to wear sunglasses & he has no Anchor to ground his powers which is always on. Then he meets Donovan Havili who is assigned as his partner/bodyguard and he’s never seen someone as bright as him. They work together on cases and IT’S SO GOOD. I love how Donovan just slides into Jon’s life and makes all those “quirks” feel natural, like it’s not Jon’s fault and it’s okay. His psychic ability is amazing and the Mystery aspect kept me guessing. 👍🏻 This book honestly has everything I want : ✔️ Paranormal ✔️ Protective boyfriends ✔️ Found family ✔️ Explicit scenes that comes from a nice build up ✔️ MUTUAL PINING ✔️ Mystery. Please give this a go. There is also a spin off and that one is A+ too.

Title : Felix and the Prince ( Forever Wilde Series )

Author : Lucy Lennox

Oh boy. If you like a bit of Drama, relationship issues, finding yourself brouhaha & explicit scenes then this series is for you. It’s a guilty pleasure kind of read and I wasn’t able to stop from book 1 down to the last. The books can be read as standalones but it’s much better if you know all the people popping up here and there. This one is my Favorite, Felix & The Prince. All because of the Commoner/Royalty trope that just never fails to fascinate me. So Felix goes to this remote island who is famous for their Stained glass and to study it. Aside from that, he’s really trying to run away from the public as his Mom’s ( who abandoned him ) blockbuster movie is coming up as he hates being in the spotlight. There he meets Lio in one of the secret rooms he accidentally finds and from there, well. 😍😍😍 These characters feel very real and their emotions read well to me as an outsider. I just love the being stuck in that place and both of them having no other choice but to fall in love. Also the whole DRAMA of how they can make it work despite all the issues is a big part of what makes their story better.

Title : Be still my Heart ( Four Kings Kings Security series )

Author : Charlie Cochet

All the books in this series is worth a read, definitely. It’s just that I really loved Laz and Red’s side-relationship from Book 1 and so when they had their own story with Book 2 it was an instant favorite. Red is an ex navy SEAL and now working as a security detail while Laz is a fashion photographer. This book opens with Red off work as he recovers from being shot and seeing Laz doing a shoot. Then someone opens fire, clearly targeting Laz and so the whole story is the two of them in close quarters and coming to terms with their relationship. They are so sweet together! 😭 and the explicit scenes are scorching omg! The mystery part on figuring out who is plotting against Laz was cool too ; I thought it was this guy, but then it’s not until that last moment when the mastermind is revealed. 😳

Title : Breaking Magic

Author : J Brenton Parker

There’s this trope that is very hard to come by in books because of how specific it is. It’s the Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter trope. This books has it all and I couldn’t be happier. You have a magic school, the chosen one and his nemesis & a whole lot of adventure. Adam Wolfe is a ticking bomb. He is the most powerful magician of his time who doesn’t even know how to use it. He can’t use a wand, can’t maintain a spell, and when he does- it results into a catastrophe. When he almost burns down the whole school and has a group of rebels interested him + the threat of his magic being stripped away, here comes someone he never got along with FELIX ROTH. Oooohhh how I love this character. 💜 So he goes to Adam and tells him he can help with controlling his powers but they have to get Merlin’s staff. And the rest of the story is just wonderful. Ugh. Soft boys, magic, adventure & good vs evil all in one book. God. Read this one please. This book needs more love.

Title : To Have It All

Author : Jill Wexler

This book is short & sweet and the right pick for a cozy sunday. Mild angst and so much fluff. This is my first bestfriends to lovers book and this one just nails it. Brett and Jordan have been friends for more than 2 decades, and yes there are times they have looked at each other in a non-platonic way ; but they both shut it down as their friendship is too important. Then Brett’s sister and brother in law dies in a car accident leaving their 4 kids to his care. Jordan helps him take care of the kids and setup himself up with this new life. Everything about this was so sweet! The domesticity and them seeing each other in different light at the right time. Just the inevitability of them being together after all those years as friends left me with all the feels. Ahhhhh~ ❤️

Enjoy! 🥳

#mlm post #m/m book recommendations #m/m book recs #m/m books #m/m romance #charlie cochet #j brenton parker #aj sherwood #lucy lennox #jill wexler #jon’s mysteries #jon’s downright ridiculous shooting case #four kings security series #forever wilde series #breaking magic #to have it all

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melaniem54 · 2 years

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Review: Jon’s Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case (Jon’s Mysteries #1) by A.J. Sherwood

Rating: 4.5 🌈 It’s not a secret I love humor in my stories and author A.J. Sherwood does that so well. So I dove into another series of hers, well backed into it as I already read Brandon’s Very Merry Haunted Christmas, so I knew the main couple superficially from a brother’s pov. Now I got to see how they met, and get to know them more Intimately. Sherwood seems to layer at least one of her…

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#A MelanieM Review #author A. J. Sherwood #established couple #LGBTQIA Paranormal Romance #murder mystery series #Review: Jon’s Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case (Jon’s Mysteries 1) by A.J. Sherwood #Scattered Thoughts Highly Recommended

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staysaneathome · 3 years

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This Was Not A Dare, Reigen

Jon glares at each of the— the suspects traitors in front of him, tape recorder clutched tight in one hand.

Martin, wringing his hands uselessly, eyes wide and beseeching. Tim, fists clenched hard enough for his knuckles to go white and returning his gaze with a death stare of his own. Sasha, arms folded to form a barrier between Jon and herself, expression a perfect mask of concern. Reigen, radiating disappointment in every one of his gestures and quips. Elias, eyes weary, fingers rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Some intervention this is turning out to be.

Jon wants to scream. Wants to reach out and shake someone, anyone, until they admit he’s making sense and it’s the rest of the world that’s gone mad.

Every single one of them (except Martin) could’ve killed Gertrude. He knows he has no proof that they did, but he has no proof that they didn’t either, can’t they see that? If they don’t want him to suspect them, it should be easy for them to actually give him proof of their innocence (like Martin did), instead of just repeating platitudes of “you know this isn’t acceptable adult behavior, Jon” and “you’re better than this, Jon”.

Who cares about knowing better or acceptable behavior when it’s your very life on the line? He’s half tempted to throttle the con artist, see how dignified or adult he is when he’s the one with a murderer on his tail!

…Not that Jon is a murderer. It’s just the principle of the thing, is all.

“Jon,” Elias says, tone soothing in all the ways he doesn’t want it to be. “This is absurd. This goes far beyond an unhealthy work environment. I’ll admit it’s partly my fault for letting it get this bad, I should have intervened earlier.”

Reigen cuts in with a hand gesture that is as effusive as it is dismissive. “That doesn’t make his behavior okay, Bouchard-san. It may be bad here, but Jon chose to follow me, Tim and Sasha, and yell at Martin, rather than going to the police or paying a detective, like Herlock Sholmes or something.”

Jon sputters. “Wh- It’s Sherlock Holmes, not—and he’s fictional!”

Reigen blinks sleepily, one eyebrow raised. “Oh? That doesn’t sound right. Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Jon all but shouts, rapidly reconsidering his stance on braining the sardonic little git with his tape recorder. “Don’t you even—an-and you’re deflecting again! Just like with your ridiculous ‘haunted gun’ nonsense!”

“I’m not!” Reigen says, clearly deflecting. “I’ve seen this kind of thing loads of times as the number one psychic. When a weapon kills lots of people over 100 years, the bad energy gets bigger and bigger until the gun grows an evil spirit and is hungry—”

“I refuse to believe Gertrude Robinson was murdered by a sentient blunderbuss!!”

“Be that as it may,” Elias interrupts, shooting them both a stern frown. “This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about, Jon. Given how badly it’s affected your work ethic, I will be taking direct action to ensure it does not continue.”

Jon can feel his shoulders hunch almost against his will, dread pooling in his stomach at the thought of whatever punishment is about to be unjustly inflicted on him.

Only Martin looks half as worried as he feels, glancing between him and Elias nervously. By contrast, Tim looks downright triumphant, smirk nasty and vindictive. Sasha’s somewhere between those two, not openly celebrating his soon-to-be-downfall, but not acting like she’d lift a finger on his behalf either, though he’s unsure why that feels like it should surprise him. She’s always been as neutral as Switzerland.

Reigen, oddly enough, has more in common with Martin than with Tim. He’s staring at Elias like he’s waiting for a bit of news he knows he won’t like.

Jon thinks he’d appreciate that more if he wasn’t about to be unfairly lambasted simply for trying to stop a murderer and bring justice for an old woman who probably died frightened and alone. Much like Jon probably will once he’s been hobbled by whatever Elias is about to say next.

“Such as by restricting access to the archives from members of the public who are ultimately doing you more harm than good.”

…Wait.

What?

“What?!” Tim, Martin, and Sasha echo.

Reigen glances between them all, blinking in confusion.

Jon shares the sentiment entirely. His punishment is…for someone else to be removed from the archives? Someone he doesn’t employ or even like that much, no less?

He must have misheard, surely.

Though maybe not, given how Tim looks aghast, glancing between Elias and Reigen. “Okay, no, Reigen’s clearly not the problem here—”

“I’m very sorry, Tim, but Jon has made several remarks about the disruptive nature of Mr. Arataka’s presence in the archives.” Elias sighs. “From the arguments like the one we just witnessed to the nonsensical purchases of oddities inspired by his presence, such as Duolingo subscriptions,” Meaningful glare at Jon who resists the urge to clutch his phone guiltily, “That are now billed on the Archives’ expenses, it unfortunately seems as though he is dragging down productivity for all of you as an active stressor.”

“But we’re much better equipped to take statements from people who don’t speak English because of that!” Martin protests, stepping forward. “Isn’t it an advantage to have a more, more international perspective for our work?”

“One positive in a sea of negatives does not an advantage make.” Elias says, sounding infuriatingly like he’s misquoting something. “And really Martin, how realistic is it that this would help in more than a few isolated cases? I expected better from you.”

Martin’s face crumples, and his shoulders hunch, making himself smaller.

Jon finds his own mouth opening to—what? Say something? What would he even say?

Luckily, Sasha intervenes before he can dig his own grave further. “That’s as may be, but he’s a wonder for morale. He and Jon are funny, not anything serious, and I don’t think we’d have come to you about Jon‘s behavior unless he encouraged us to—”

“Which only fits into the delusion where Jon feels an outsider is rallying his subordinates against him, which is not good for his paranoid outlook.” Elias replies calmly. “And it’s never a healthy work environment when one employee feels the others are making them the butt of a joke.”

“I’d say that’s not as bad as when the boss feels he has the right to violate everyone’s privacy whenever he wants to just ’cause he’s feeling sad!” Tim growls.

Elias begins to answer, before Reigen finally speaks up.

“Sorry,” The con artist says carefully. “But you are…«I know this one…» banning me from the Archives? Yes?”

“That is the long and short of it, yes.” Elias says, grudgingly

“Why?” Reigen challenges, eyes hard and searching. “What have I, personally, done that’s wrong here? What behavior do I need to correct?”

There’s a moment of silence. The whirring of the tape recorder sounds uncomfortably loud.

“Mr. Arataka, are you currently under the employ of the Magnus Institute?” Elias asks, brow furrowed.

“Ah, no, no, but—”

“Are you looking to become employed by the Institute at this point in time, as a prospective member of the Archival Staff?” He fires off rapidly.

“Su-Sorry, but if you could just go a little slower—”

“Then I am afraid that unless you’re looking to fill out an employment contract or a Statement form, we cannot help you, Mr. Arataka.” Elias spreads his hands wide. “We are an academic institution, a place of research and learning. The Institute cannot allow for social dalliances on company time, especially not when those visits are negatively contributing to the work environment and the wellbeing of our staff.”

Tim throws up his hands, “I-I cannot believe this!”

Reigen’s mouth works soundlessly for a moment.

“Arataka is my…what do you call it? First name?” He says, at last. “Using it in this context is…inappropriate. Please call me Reigen, if you would, Bouchard-san.”

“Of course. My mistake, Mr. Reigen.” Elias does have the decency to look somewhat abashed. “Though, regrettably, I am going to have to ask you to leave the premises within the next twenty minutes, or I will be forced to call security.”

Reigen nods, jerkily, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Jon almost wants to call out to the fraud as he turns to go, grab him by the shoulder, pick another argument, something. He knows he should be happy, be glad that this thorn in his side will finally stop bothering him, but instead he just feels—befuddled. Off-kilter.

What happened to the man who once spent three hours arguing for the “spiritual effectiveness” of entirely performative and useless rituals, saying that ensuring his clients left his office fooled and contented was better than actually uncovering genuine supernatural forces and learning all there was to know about them? Why is he going so-so easily now, when he’s made Jon fight tooth and nail in every debate he’s had with the so-called psychic?

At the door, the con man pauses.

“Bouchard-san. You said I could come back if I had a statement to give?”

Elias shifts in his seat, looking bemused. “W-well, yes. That is a service we do provide. Of course, the statement would have to be genuine, and verifiable as such before we let you back into the Archives.”

“We don’t even do that for most of the rubbish we do take,” Tim mutters under his breath, and though Jon is glad he’s not the one being shot a quelling look, he does have to agree.

The con man turns back.

He’s got that smirk on his face that immediately puts Jon’s hackles up on instinct, prepared to argue against whatever inane point he’s come up with now to defend his phony psychic title.

“Gotcha.” Reigen says, far too cheerfully. «Ja ne.»

Then he strolls out of the office, as cool as a cucumber.

Jon could even swear he hears him whistling as he makes his way down the stairs.

There’s a moment of stunned silence.

“I’d do him.” Sasha pipes up, unhelpfully.

“Sasha!” Martin hisses, scandalized. “D-don’t you have a, a—”

“Oh, I don’t have to worry about that.” She remarks, far too blasé for someone in a newly committed relationship. “Tom’s heard about him too, and he agreed he’s just our type.”

“And I’m not?” Tim jokes, but there’s a hard edge to it that Jon’s found himself increasingly familiar with in the past few weeks.

Sasha shrugs with a mischievous little smile, as if that mattered very little to her.

Elias coughs. “Right. Well. Whatever your relations to Mr. Reigen are, please try to limit them to outside the workplace in future.”

The rest of the intervention is surprisingly subdued. Elias gives Jon access to the footage from the cameras in the rest of the Institute, and Tim bodychecks him on the way out of the office, muttering about how nice it must be to never face any consequences for his actions. Sasha follows, the way she won’t meet his eyes a condemnation in its own right.

Even Martin doesn’t say anything to him, just bites his lip and hurries past back down to the Archives. It doesn’t sting. It doesn’t.

Even as he settles in to watch and rewatch the CCTV records of Gertrude’s last week alive, Jon can’t shake the ridiculous feeling of foreboding that’s dogged him since Reigen left.

Most of him wants to say it comes from the fact that despite the fact that Reigen has not appeared in any of the camera records for the Magnus Institute before he started his term as Head Archivist in 2016, isn’t banning him from the Archives just letting the con man run around London with impunity, with no way for Jon to ascertain his movements or motives? That instead of solving a problem, Elias has just given a potential murderer free reign to escape?

But a small part of Jon, one that never could deny the sensation of being watched, that is frozen in second-hand terror whenever he reads a Statement, knows, Knows that it this stems more from the idea that the fraud will actually accomplish what Elias has unwittingly challenged him to do.

The illogical but pervasive surety that he will do so.

Jon’s not sure if he’s more afraid that Reigen Arataka will vanish entirely, another unfortunate victim become an unsolved mystery.

Or that he’ll come back, and bring whatever he’s managed to unearth on his insane quest with him.

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