The Bellingham Mystery Series Volume 2

The Bellingham Mystery Series Volume 2 (2015) Nicole Kimberling

One Man’s Treasure
Birds of a Feather
Pentimento Blues

When I read The Bellingham Mystery Series Volume 1 I noted that the first story was the weakest, and each successive story got better and better. This volume takes off where the first ended, both story-wise and quality wise. The author is fully comfortable with the characters now, and each story just takes off and is delightful.

“I’m serious, though. Why do you think you love me?”

“Why does anybody love anybody? Nick shrugged. “Why are you asking? Are you filling out some kind of quiz again?”

“No.” Peter closed the yoursoulmate.com window. “I’m just curious.”

As with the previous volume, this book is three stories, each a mystery that Peter Fontaine is involved in and pulls his partner Nick Olson into each mess.

One Man’s Treasure is set in 2011, and finds Nick and Peter at the local Farmer’s market assisting Peter’s best friend, Evangeline, at her booth. When a local artist dies almost at Peter’s feet, he is of course drawn into what happened. And when Officer Patton offers a reciprocal information sharing agreement, Peter is all in.

In addition to solving a murder, Peter and Nick decide (almost on a whim) to get civilly registered.

The papers, he realized, were necessary. He wanted to stay with Nick, and Nick wanted to stay with him. They were most important to each other, most qualified to make decisions about one another. These papers were the evidence with which he could force others to accept that. The papers weren’t romantic, but they were pragmatic.

That was the source of his fleeting sadness—that he should need them at all to fight disapproving strangers who would separate them, given the opportunity.

It fascinates me how this story exists so squarely in a very specific time–the years when gay marriage was illegal, but domestic partnerships were becoming available across the country.

But aside from that, we see just how well Peter and Nick work as a couple.

Peter rolled his eyes. “I won’t get into trouble.”

“That’s what you always think. Then you end up in the dark in the middle of nowhere facing down some lunatic,” Nick said, shaking his head. “You have no common sense.”

“I do so have common sense. It’s just that sometimes it gets wrestled to the ground by my sense of curiosity.”

Nick’s sensibility and Pater’s ability to be honest with himself.

And, despite Nick being taciturn, they do teach each other and can have fun.

What is it about cats that they can’t get enough dirty old paint water?”

“Maybe it tastes good,” Peter offered. “Puts the yum in cadmium.”

Birds of a Feather is set about a year later, and is set around Nick and Peter’s wedding.

Peter meeting Nick’s parents is utterly delightful. I kept reading bits and pieces of this story to Michael.

“Anyway, I’ll get Nick. Help yourself to whatever is in the fridge.” As he walked to the studio, he felt a brief irrational fear that there was something terrible in the fridge.

There’s also a very sweet scene between Peter and Evangeline, before Peter’s bachelor party (which is occurring at the same time, but a different location, from Nick’s party). She gives him something she made for him that she hates and is embarrassed by:

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” he said. Then at her expression added, “We look through the eyes of love.”

The mystery here starts with a shooting and the discovery of a bald eagle corpse and I shan’t tell anything else, since it would give everything away.

I also want to note that Nick’s father is delightful.

“We found out about Nick from the Internet,” Erik said. “I sleuthed it.”

“You confirmed it,” Ingrid corrected him. Then to Claudia, “Of course we already knew. No one stays a bachelor for that long.”

“Some serial killers do,” Erik countered.

And we get the wedding. <3

Pentimento Blues is the final story, and is set three years after the wedding.

A gentleman who attended the wedding comes in to town and asks Peter if he can see one of the last remaining deKamp pieces in the house.

Nick reacts badly, to say the least.

This was probably my favorite mystery in the book, since all the pieces fit together, and it was also logical that Peter knew nothing about what was happening.

There’s an adorably sweet scene where Peter has to write a piece of a local brewery, and ends up getting extremely drunk.

He wordlessly allowed himself to be poured into the passenger seat of the car and closed his eyes. He should keep his mouth shut, he thought, to avoid saying anything stupid.

Aloud he murmured, “I still need to get my bike from work. I can ride it home.”

To which Nick responded, “Okay, I’ll get your bike, and you can ride back home, but first you have to take a nap.”

Peter’s eyelids drooped. A nap did sound good…

That is so lovely.

There were again bits in this story that made me giggle and laugh out loud.

It was a lovely story, and a lovely conclusion to the book (and probably the series).

I very much enjoyed this book, and highly recommend the entire series.

Publisher: One Block Empire
Rating: 8.5/10

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