Stevie‘s review of Unfit to Print by KJ Charles
Historical Gay Romance published by KJC Books 10 Jul 18
I’ve loved everything I’ve read by KJ Charles, and there’s quite a few of her books still waiting in my virtual To Read pile. I particularly enjoy her series, but I don’t begrudge her occasional forays into stand-alone novels; however, in this case, we almost get the best of both worlds, because while the story told is complete in and of itself, it’s also linked to a former novel by a recent Charles short story, Wanted An Author, which continues the story of the guys from Wanted a Gentleman, which I’ve reviewed here previously. Keeping up? The link takes the form of a book, written for a very limited print run and passed down from discerning collector to discerning collector until it’s become almost legendary – for its illegality if nothing else. A copy falls into the hands of a bookseller, as part of a collection bequeathed by his half-brother, but some of the other items in the set turn out to be part of a much greater mystery.
Gil Lawless is a seller – and sometime author – of distinctly dubious erotic writings. The son of a wealthy landowner and a black servant, Gil was well-educated until his father died suddenly and the legitimate heir cut Gil off from his home and his inheritance. When Gil’s half-brother dies, Gil is summoned back to his former home for the funeral and asked to carry out a favour for his uncle and cousin – the new owners of the house – since they have no idea how to dispose of the extensive pornography collection currently filling the library. Gil agrees to help, mainly because he has spotted the very rare book that he has long wished to read and then sell on; however, as he sorts through the rest of the books and photographs back at his shop, he discovers that some of the pictures are of a young man he knows to have been murdered recently.
While Gil is debating what to do about the revelation that his half-brother was somehow acquainted with a murder victim, he receives an unexpected visitor: his old schoolfriend and boyhood love, Vikram Pandey, now a successful solicitor specialising in helping immigrants from India who have been ill-treated by their white employers and landlords. Vik is also searching for the subject of a photograph – although the picture he’s been given is entirely innocent in its composition – and believes that the missing lad may have been earning money by posing for less salubrious portraits.
While Vik and Gil are more than happy to be reunited, they are also wary at the way their respective lives have changed in the intervening years, and each distrusts the other for apparently abandoning the bonds of their friendship when Gil was taken out of school after his father’s death. They agree to work together to find the missing boy, and slowly their friendship is rekindled, with the one sticking point that Vik disapproves of Gil’s disregard for those parts of the law that would stop him carrying on his business, and Gil resents Vik for making a success on the right side of the law without him.
I utterly adored this book, with all its telling details of life for two men who don’t quite fit into polite Victorian society, but are still determined to help those less well off than themselves. I also liked all the side characters, and was gratified that the villain of the piece turned out not to be the parody so many killers seem to be depicted as in historical romance and romantic suspense stories that I’ve read of late. Most definitely a book to keep and reread.
Grade: A
Summary:
When crusading lawyer Vikram Pandey sets out in search of a missing youth, his investigations take him to Holywell Street, London’s most notorious address. He expects to find a disgraceful array of sordid bookshops. He doesn’t expect one of them to be run by the long-lost friend whose disappearance and presumed death he’s been mourning for thirteen years.
Gil Lawless became a Holywell Street bookseller for his own reasons, and he’s damned if he’s going to apologise or listen to moralising from anyone. Not even Vikram; not even if the once-beloved boy has grown into a man who makes his mouth water.
Now the upright lawyer and the illicit bookseller need to work together to track down the missing youth. And on the way, they may even learn if there’s more than just memory and old affection binding them together…
No excerpt available.
