The Mystery of Nevermore

Written by C.S. Poe

Narrated by Derrick McClain

It’s Christmas in New York City, and all antique shop owner Sebastian Snow wants is for his business to make money and to save his floundering relationship with closeted CSU detective, Neil Millett. But when Snow’s Antique Emporium is broken into and a heart is found under the floorboards, Sebastian can’t let the mystery rest.
He soon finds himself caught up in murder investigations that echo the macabre writings of Edgar Allan Poe. To make matters worse, Sebastian’s sleuthing is causing his relationship with Neil to crumble, while at the same time he’s crushing hard on the lead homicide detective of the case, Calvin Winter. Sebastian and Calvin must work together to unravel the mystery behind the killings, despite the mounting danger and sexual tension, before Sebastian becomes the next victim.
In the end, Sebastian only wants to get out of this mess alive and live happily ever after with Calvin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emporium Press
• Release date: Apr 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9781952133299

C.S. Poe

C.S. Poe is a Lambda Literary and two-time EPIC award finalist, and a FAPA award-winning author of gay mystery, romance, and speculative fiction. She resides in New York City, but has also called Key West and Ibaraki, Japan home in the past. She has an affinity for all things cute and colorful and a major weakness for toys. C.S. is an avid fan of coffee, reading, and cats. She’s rescued two cats—Milo and Kasper do their best to distract her from work on a daily basis. C.S. is an alumna of the School of Visual Arts. Her debut novel, The Mystery of Nevermore, was published 2016. cspoe.com

Reviews for The Mystery of Nevermore

[jorgeousjotts · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The main character was really frustrating for me. He's immature and bratty and has such absolutely terrible judgement! It's a horrible mix of unlikable and TSTL (too stupid to live). The relationship was kind of 0 to 100, his love interest was a bit too idealized, and the mystery was a serious stretch, but those things didn't bother me nearly as much as just desperately wishing the MMC had a lick of sense. I want to like this series, so I think I'll still try book 2*. But obviously the narrator is a humongous part of the book and he trampled a lot of my enjoyment.

* I read reviews for the rest of the series and it looks like the problems that bothered me in this one just continue throughout. I think each book is rated higher than the one before it less because each one improves on the last, and more just because the people bothered by these issues just give up on the series and only the fans are left. I'm afraid I'm in the non-fan group.

There is *something* about the writing that I do like, so I think I will still try her Memento Mori series. Not having this protagonist will surely help.

** I just got around to reading Fatal Shadows by Lanyon, written 6 years before this one-- and it made me feel very uncomfortable about this book. I've read straight up fan-fiction that differed more drastically than this book does to that one. It feels very much like Poe took that story and then just tweaked it until she felt it was different enough not to count as actual plagiarism. It gives me kind of a squirmy feeling honestly. I rated this 2 stars originally, but I have to dock a star based on this- lack of originality, to put it generously.

[crtsjffrsn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Antiques dealer Sebastian Snow never expected his world to turn upside down so quickly. After a heart is found beneath the floorboards of his shop, he finds himself a victim of a string of crimes straight out of Edgar Allan Poe stories. And Sebastian was lucky to not be the victim of one of the more violent crimes in the string of attacks.
The investigation puts a further strain on Sebastian's relationship with closeted detective, Neil Millett. Sebastian has never liked being Neil's secret, but when he needs to use Neil as his alibi, he realizes that Neil may never be willing to be open about what they mean to each other. And to compound things further, the lead investigator on Sebastian's case, Calvin Winter, has caught more than Sebastian's eye. But Sebastian's not even sure he's gay. And even if he is, could he be interested in someone as unassuming as Sebastian?

As the crime spree continues, Sebastian can't help inserting himself into the investigation. And by doing so, he may not only be risking Calvin's ire--he may be risking his life.

--

This story represents a rather fun way to integrate and reference other popular literary works without being a straight up adaptation. The references to Poe's work are interesting, advance the plot, and hooked me as a reader. With each new twist in the case, I found myself reminiscing about the first time I'd read the referenced story or poem.

What's also nice about the way this story is developed is that the story stands on its own. The characters and the plot aren't dependent on understanding all of the references to Poe. They're fully explained, keeping it accessible to those who may not be as familiar with his body of work. And the romantic subplots and overarching mystery are well worth reading in their own right.

This appears to be the first installment in a series, and I'm very much looking forward to reading more about Sebastian and Calvin in the future.

[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

[jenson_aka_dl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sebastian is the owner of a prosperous antique story who has a penchant for mysteries. However, he finds out that real life murder/mysteries can be really scary when he discovers a heart under his floor and becomes involved in a crime which strikes close to home.This was an interesting, contemporary crime/thriller with a romantic bend. It was an engrossing short story which moved along well. I liked both of the main characters, despite a couple times where Sebastian really annoyed me with actions of extreme stupidity when generally, he is a pretty intelligent character. As with some of the other reviews I've read, the instantaneous "love" between the characters seemed more along the lines of overwhelming lust to me. I'm curious enough to see how the relationship progresses to probably invest at least in the next book of the series.

[carol420 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sebastian Snow...for all the trouble he gets into and all the kinks in his brain, is an adorably character. His closeted...everyone in this book is it seems...older...and supposedly an ice-cold detective-pursuer-protector. Calvin Winter, is a semi-closeted, ex-military who has a strict moral code...and a weakness for helpless-looking booksellers. He’s a nice counterbalance to Sebastian's increasingly estranged deeply-closeted detective boyfriend Neil, who really does provide some catalytic moments. The anchor here is Sebastian's father, who is clearly drawn and perfectly adept at solving everyone's problems with a word or two from his academic past. The culprit was fairly easy to spot right away but I was happy to go along with this as the story progressed. This is without a doubt the most clueless bunch I think I have ever encountered...but this is forgiven because the story is well written... completely satisfying...absolutely fun book with unexpected twists and turns.

[shazov-133293 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This has been sitting on my shelves for since it was released. I heard a lot of different opinions about it and that made me shelf it for longer than I should have!

To be blunt, I loved it! Once I got started the story grabbed hold of me and didn't let me go. I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of it. I might have had a fleeting thought about the who-done-it part, but I wasn't sure until the very last of the book. I'll admit there wasn't a lot of "relationship building" but then again, there wasn't really a relationship being built. At least not a romantic one. There's a touch of insta-love, but then again, love at first sight isn't impossible. And they aren't promising a HEA at the end of the book, so for me, it works brilliantly.

The one good thing about leaving reading the book so late is that I don't have a long wait for the sequel *grin*