Mating Season
by Jon Loomis
Minotaur Books, April 2009, $24.95
Mating—or let’s just call it sex—seems to be on everyone’s mind in the resort town of Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Police Detective Frank Coffin and his off-again, on-again ex-wife are trying to have a baby and the constant attempts are leaving him exhausted.
Coffin’s partner, Sergeant Lola Winters also has amour on the mind with her new girlfriend—and this time she might be “the one” for the policewoman. Even animals are doing it in the street.
With wry humor, Jon Loomis ties all this emphasis on “mating” to Frank and Lola’s murder investigation of Kenji Sole. Wealthy, beautiful, intelligent and very much into porn, Kenji was always on the prowl for a mate.
She preferred married men because they were easier to control. The detectives’ investigation hinges on Kenji’s myriad married lovers—and their furious wives—some of whom are leaders of the town, the county, and even the state. But first Frank and Lola have to start with Kenji’s hundreds of porn DVDs, most of which were filmed in her bedroom with her in the starring role.
While Mating Season features much subtle humor, Loomis also brings depth to his characters with serious subplots including Frank’s relationship with his mother who has Alzheimer’s and wants to die. Loomis follows last year’s clever debut, High Season, with the equally sharp Mating Season.
If you think that mysteries don’t touch us where we live, then you aren’t reading the right novels.
