A Time for Secrets

Title: A Time for Secrets

Author: Marshall Thornton

Publisher: MLR Press

Publisher URL: www.mlrbooks.com

ISBN: 978-1-60820-548-6

Genre: {M/M} Mystery Series

Rating: 4.5 Nymphs

Literary Nymphs Reviewer: Chocolate Minx  

Business has been a little slow in Chicago for Private Investigator Nick Nowak. Even his second job as a nightclub bouncer has cut back his work hours. With nothing on the agenda, other than moving to a new office, Nick accepts the job to find a long lost love, or so this is the story the client gave Nick. What Nick discovered is murder and corruption in high places.  

A Time for Secrets is the fourth installment in the Boystown series. The setting is 1982 and the storyline gives a brief history of events, as well as people in Nick’s life up to the current plot. The emphasis is on case and Nick’s live in lover, Bert Harker, who has AIDS. On the surface, the case seemed to be simple. Nick was able to locate the man in question. However, when Nick’s client is murdered, Nick decides to dig a little deeper into the past and the search leads Nick back to a fatal gay bashing in the year of 1959. Nick’s personal life is more complicated than solving a crime. Nick loves Harker, although he is not in love with Harker. Nick takes care of Harker the same as anyone would care for a sick relative or friend. Nevertheless, Nick continues to have sexual encounters with strangers.

Marshall Thornton’s A Time for Secrets illustrates the dangerous and degrading lives endured by gay men. The impressive as well as enjoyable saga highlights just how slowly social attitudes regarding homosexuality changes