In the Name of the Law

By Sue Holston

Baltimore police detective Mitch Dawson is in love with his partner, Ivan Stanislav, but will fate intervene before Mitch can reveal the truth?

Mitchell Dawson is a detective with the Baltimore Police Department's Vice unit. He's hard-working, dedicated…and carrying around one big secret—he's in love with his very straight, engaged-to-be-married partner, Ivan Stanislav. Then Ivan's fiancée dumps him and too much alcohol leads to Mitch and Ivan sleeping together. The next morning, Mitch figures their friendship and partnership is over, but surprisingly Ivan doesn't bring up their encounter. On the outside, life continues on for the duo. However that night changed everything for Mitch.

When Ivan is shot and nearly dies, Mitch realises he has a choice-keep quiet and eventually watch Ivan fall in love and marry someone else, or tell Ivan the truth and reveal he's been in love with his partner for years, hoping the other man might feel the same. Will Mitch risk it all for love?

Publisher's Note: This story has been previously released as part of the His Hero anthology by Totally Bound Publishing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
• Release date: Feb 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9780857158888

Reviews for In the Name of the Law

[jules0623 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a great premise but it really needed to be longer, paced more sedately with a bit more character development.

[serenayates · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The well-known theme of ‘best friends become lovers’ comes to fresh life in the heart wrenching and hot story of two police detectives who have been best friends forever. It takes a major shock (that of Ivan’s engagement breaking) followed by life-threatening catastrophe for them to realize they can have so much more than a working partnership. While real life is not always this extreme, the basic reality is still the same: facing the prospect of losing someone forever is sometimes the only thing that will give someone enough courage to act on their feelings.

Mitch knows he is bisexual and has loved Ivan for years, but lacks the incentive to speak up – since he knows Ivan is straight. Or thinks he knows. That one night when he gave Ivan a blowjob right after he’d broken up with his fiancé just happened because Ivan was still half drunk and desperate for human contact. Right? It keeps niggling at him, but he has a few more ‘close encounters’ that almost lose him Ivan before he finally mans up and puts it all on the line.

Ivan doesn’t really have a voice in this story, since Mitch tells it, but his evolution from going after any woman he can get to realizing that Mitch is the partner he’s always wanted is clear. The way they lovingly yell at each other was fun, as was reading about their new life together. If you like stories about detectives who keep up the macho act even when they’re deeply in love, you might like this book.



NOTE: This book was provided by Total-E-Bound for the purpose of a review on QMO Books.