Book Review: The WAG and the Scoundrel by Debbie McGowan

Title: The WAG and The Scoundrel (Gray Fisher #1)

Author: Debbie McGowan

Publication Date: 22nd September, 2016

Length: 87,000 words (310 pages) approx

Three years after the death of his civil partner, DCI Gray Fisher is finally ready to make the break from the police. For too long, he has used his work as a means of survival; now, he’s looking forward to a nice, quiet life in academia.

Investment banker Will Richards is a walking, talking contradiction. With his love of surfing and his farmhouse menagerie of rescue animals, he’s far removed from Gray’s idea of the perfect man, but that’s ‘not a problem’. Gray wants nothing more than friendship, and Will seems happy to accept that. After all, with his mum’s illness and resigning from his job, he’s got enough on his plate already.

Assuming, of course, he’s telling the truth.

When former colleague, Rob Simpson-Stone, asks for Gray’s help with a case of a destitute banker who faked his own death, Gray is understandably reluctant to get involved…until Rob reveals the identity of one of the suspects.

This book is a little bit of everything: cozy mystery, social commentary, and love story (more than romance). There’s a lot going on at once, but because it’s told through the lens of two people working out the relationships in their lives, it doesn’t end up feeling like too much.

If you’re looking for an intense psychological thriller or a standard genre mystery, this is not that book. It’s less about the specific case (although that’s plenty to hold one’s interest) and more about why Gray and Rob approach it they way they do. Both of them are separately managing the pieces of their lives after very different ends to their prior intimate relationships. Those events shape how they perceive the case and their reasons for being involved.

Most of this is in Gray’s POV. He’s distrustful, on the whole. He’s already suspicious of Will after a single date, and his misgivings prevent him from both opening up to the relationship and from being honest with Will. I kept wanting him to just ask some pertinent questions already. On the one hand, that was a bit frustrating, but on the other that was half the fun. I typically don’t care for what I call “stoic man drama,” where the people have conversations with literally everyone else but each other. In this situation, I saw where Gray was coming from, and I understood his reasons.

The relationship between Gray and Will, despite Gray’s lack of faith, unfolds naturally and organically. Although it starts off looking like a wash, they do eventually get there with a lot of effort on both sides. When they finally start talking and enjoying one another’s company, the result isn’t some explosive, passionate encounter. Instead, they fall quietly and gently. And (spoilers; highlight to read) this contains what I think might be my all-time favorite coming out moment. It’s funny and sweet, and Gray treats Will’s bisexuality with respect. When he says, “Are you coming out to me?” he sounds pleased and honored, as though being given a gift. It speaks volumes about the kind of person Gray is.

Some parts of the story are told in Rob’s POV. In contrast to Gray, Rob seems perfectly happy to ask whatever he wants, and he’s significantly more trusting. At least, he appears to be of the opinion that he’ll know if someone is hiding something on purpose. The unfortunate side effect is that he’s not able to hide his dislike when it comes to his ex-wife’s boyfriend. They do make a good team, and I’m interested to see where they go from this book forward. I would love to see what transpires between Rob and a secondary character.

Because there is an actual mystery, which I don’t want to spoil, all I can say is that this is very well-written, and I’m happy to see it’s only the first book. I’m looking forward to reading more about these characters. Just because there’s a happy-for-now end doesn’t mean there isn’t more in store for both of them.

For a gentle, natural romance, an intriguing plot, and characters worth coming back for, this gets 10/10 fountain pens.

BTP: http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/WAG

BTP ebook: http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=gf01_format

BTP paperback: http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/shop/proddetail.php?prod=gf01

ARE: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-thewagandthescoundrel-2092614-148.html

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/661786?ref=b10track

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2but0Q9

Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/2bQOT9u

When Gray moved to London, giving up the car had been the hardest part. Wherever he’d lived in the thirteen years since he’d graduated, and regardless of how little he’d possessed in the way of home comforts, he’d always had a decent car. He loved cars, and while his own were never particularly showy, they’d been high-spec, with big engines, big wheels and a hell of a lot of go.

He enjoyed driving; long journeys at night on clear roads were best, even though they were the exact conditions the night Jean was killed. Gray had lost consciousness in the collision and had come round forty-eight hours later, by which point Jean’s family had flown over from Belgium and already knew the results of the tests that determined Jean was brain-dead. At the time, the laws regarding same-sex partnerships were such that Jean’s parents could have made the decision without Gray’s consent, but they didn’t. They waited for Gray, and then Jean’s mother had stayed with him while the doctors switched off the machine.

In Gray’s memory, the scene looked like something from a TV drama, with a similar lack of emotional impact, perhaps due to the pain meds, perhaps because it was such an enormous amount of pain that his brain refused to acknowledge it. Hardly a day had passed without some well-meaning friend or colleague telling him it would sink in at some point, and he’d stacked up a fair number of promises they’d ‘be there’ when it did. But it had never hit him the way people said it would. He’d refused to let it.

Strange, then, that he should choose to replicate the conditions of the accident, and not just as a one-off. When he visited his sister, he always hired a car and made the return journey late at night. He’d told Becky it was to avoid traffic, but the truth was it kept the memories of Jean fresh, for there were many more journeys they had completed together successfully. It was those that came to mind when he was driving alone, replaying conversations, laughing and frowning and feeling every emotion again.

Alas, taking the Metropolitan line’s rickety route through the North West London suburbs and out to Hertfordshire did not afford the same kind of stimulus, but it was a pleasant enough journey, Gray supposed, as he emerged from the station a little before seven, realising as he did so that he’d forgotten to text Will to say he was on his way. He took out his phone to rectify that and then put it away again.

Will was standing outside; there was no missing him. He was the one with the five dogs and dressed in scruffs, which set Gray’s pulse speeding. It took him a few seconds to get past God, he’s hot and rationalise his reaction. Will hadn’t gone to any effort for Gray’s benefit, which could mean he’d been tied up with his mum all afternoon, or he didn’t care what Gray thought of him, or he saw no need to put on an act. The latter was the best fit for what Gray knew about Will so far and also the easiest to live with.

As for the dogs, they were a varied bunch of mutts, all very well-behaved, patiently awaiting their next instruction. Gray stopped mid-step, unsure how best to approach. He looked to Will for guidance and received a wide, cheery grin.

“They’re all friendly,” Will said, qualifying it with, “Well, Monster’s a bit highly strung.” He pointed to a black and white dog, previously described to Gray as ‘the little one’ and not that little, in his unqualified opinion. “And Kenny can be a bit snappy at first.” Will swapped all of the leads into one hand and patted a dog to identify he who was known as Kenny. Gray could hardly believe what he was seeing and continued to gaze in awe as Will explained to his dogs, like they were children who understood his every word, “This is Gray. He’s very nice, but he’s a bit nervous, all right? Come on, then. Shall we go home for some supper?” The five dogs, and Will, turned and walked away.

A bit nervous? It was true enough, but Gray took exception to being introduced as such, even if it was only to the dogs.

Debbie McGowan is an author and publisher based in a semi-rural corner of Lancashire, England. She writes character-driven, realist fiction, celebrating life, love and relationships. A working class girl, she ‘ran away’ to London at seventeen, was homeless, unemployed and then homeless again, interspersed with animal rights activism (all legal, honest ;)) and volunteer work as a mental health advocate. At twenty-five, she went back to college to study social science—tough with two toddlers, but they had a ‘stay at home’ dad, so it worked itself out. These days, the toddlers are young women (much to their chagrin), and Debbie teaches undergraduate students, writes novels and runs an independent publishing company, occasionally grabbing an hour of sleep where she can.