December 1, 2021
A meet-cute at a gay dance club leads to a dreamy night and a less dreamy sequel. Even though he writes a Mates on Dates blog, Hayden McCall has had limited experience slipping dollar bills into the jockstraps of the go-go boys at Hunters. So maybe it's his fault that Camilo Rodriguez responds to the tip by kicking him in the face. Camilo's apologetic, bantamweight Hayden's not seriously hurt (though his shiner is still shining when the curtain comes down), and they end up in Camilo's bed in Columbia City. Everything's perfect until the dawn's early light, when two Seattle cops come calling for Camilo, whose truck they've found abandoned with the engine running, and Hayden realizes he's not there. So many people saw Hayden getting kicked at Hunters that he's not a serious suspect, but he wants to help. So he takes Camilo's bull terrier, Commander, back to his place even though Ruthie Weiser, owner of the Orca Arms (think about it), has a strict no-pets policy that Hayden's neighbor Sarah Lee is all too eager to enforce. More to the point, he joins forces with Camilo's friend Hollister, a lesbian furniture maker with whom he instantly clicks, to track down his missing hookup, to the visible resentment of Hollister's kryptonite partner, Mysti Cho. Miraculously, doubling the gay-best-friend clich�--neither Hayden nor Hollister is in danger of falling for the other--produces a fresh new take on the gay mystery, and Hayden's first-person narrative is just self-deprecating enough. Look past the routine mystery in Osler's debut, and you'll hear a welcome new voice.
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January 10, 2022
Gay Seattle school teacher and blogger Hayden McCall, the self-described “quiet and reserved” narrator of Osler’s appealing debut, is startled when, after spending a chaste night with super-hot (and nice) Camilo Rodriguez, he learns that his new acquaintance, whom he met at a dance club, has gone missing. Since Hayden’s afraid that the police won’t be very diligent in looking for a gay Venezuelan go-go boy, he begins a search on his own, encumbered with Camilo’s bull terrier, Commander. He soon turns up hints that Camilo may be in serious trouble. But he also finds allies as the investigation develops, including two lesbian friends of Camilo, Hollister and Burley, who inform him that Camilo is a Dreamer whose parents were deported years earlier. Along with Hollister’s sage uncle, these new friends help Hayden realize that he’s actually a more responsible, competent person than he imagined, able to confront villains such as a too-gorgeous-to-be-good bisexual dancer and an unnervingly eccentric pet-store owner. The characters’ convincing banter and generally believable actions lift this relaxed, comfortable yarn. Readers will hope Hayden and company will be back soon.