Lenaribka

I liked this book and actually enjoyed a perfectly created atmosphere of a white-black-movie. A Must read for all Josh Lanyon fans, but I would not recommend this book as an introduction into his works. If you have not read anything of Josh Lanyon, read his Adrien English Mystery series or his stand-alone [b:Come Unto These Yellow Sands|10671152|Come Unto These Yellow Sands|Josh Lanyon|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1326091231s/10671152.jpg|15580695] before this one.

Snowball in Hell is a well written mystery with an emphasis on MYSTERY, at least for the first half of the book. And to tell the truth, I didn't miss a romance almost at all. Though it is not a reason why the romance part took me by surprise.

Not because I didn't want it or didn't expect it.

The romance between police Lieutenant Matthew and reporter Nathan Doyleit started very slowly-it was almost not present in the first half- but accelerated very rapidly in the second part of the book, for my taste. The development of their feelings was too fast to understand. Maybe it's the reason why I couldn't feel the chemistry between Matthew and Nathan as I supposed to, their relationship felt a bit flat. But it's only my personal impression.

I can understand that the topic was not easy- love between men at the time of WW2 and long after remained a taboo. Homosexuality considered a mental illness or even worse. It is why there is not about outing or closeting, it is about how socially to survive being different. All those angsts, insecurity and shame are so understandable and made me really sad during reading.
But we have our HEA at the end!!

Overall a solid historical mystery with a lot of mystery in the first part of the book and a lot of romance in the second part. You just have to be a little bit more patient.

The book could be a perfect draft for a screenplay!