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A review by brittaniethekid
A Touch of Steele: The Perdition Club by Annabelle Greene
5.0
I picked this up because of the author, not realising it was part of the same series as [b:Black & White|61298558|Black & White (The Perdition Club #2)|Ruby Moone|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1655367850l/61298558._SX50_.jpg|96657483] which I just recently finished. Trying not to compare these two books by different authors side by side, but I think Greene is a better writer when it comes to sex scenes and dialogue than Moone so I enjoyed this installment more.
The books in this series all take place within or around The Perdition Club but are each written by a different author. In this book, we have Edward and Hugh who rent one of the upstairs rooms for a stakeout rather than what the rooms are usually intended for. Hugh is a coffee shop owner but his shop was recently ransacked for no reason he knows and so he hires Edward Steele, a local thug for hire, to help him track down the men who did it. The room in the Perdition sits across the street from a local pub that Edward seems to believe the men in question might visit. We're told Edward and Hugh have already gone to a few other local pubs for this same reason but we're not told why they chose to do it stakeout-style this time and from a gambling hell that is also known for "discretion", but I guess that's just what we need to put the two in the right situation to come together (in all senses of the term).
While they're watching the pub across the street that seems to not be open, they hear sounds from the room next door that can only be from one thing. They find a peep hole in the wall behind a painting which explains why the sounds are so clear. Hugh gets an eyeful and starts narrating to Edward what he's watching. The tension that has been apparently brewing between the two throughout their time together comes to a head.
Even though this story is short and is mostly made up of them in bed, we get a real sense of the characters and I really thought this was a lovely story, but Greene is also a favourite historical MM writer so that might be bias. This can be read without any of the other books in the series so I'd recommend it on its own.
The books in this series all take place within or around The Perdition Club but are each written by a different author. In this book, we have Edward and Hugh who rent one of the upstairs rooms for a stakeout rather than what the rooms are usually intended for. Hugh is a coffee shop owner but his shop was recently ransacked for no reason he knows and so he hires Edward Steele, a local thug for hire, to help him track down the men who did it. The room in the Perdition sits across the street from a local pub that Edward seems to believe the men in question might visit. We're told Edward and Hugh have already gone to a few other local pubs for this same reason but we're not told why they chose to do it stakeout-style this time and from a gambling hell that is also known for "discretion", but I guess that's just what we need to put the two in the right situation to come together (in all senses of the term).
While they're watching the pub across the street that seems to not be open, they hear sounds from the room next door that can only be from one thing. They find a peep hole in the wall behind a painting which explains why the sounds are so clear. Hugh gets an eyeful and starts narrating to Edward what he's watching. The tension that has been apparently brewing between the two throughout their time together comes to a head.
Even though this story is short and is mostly made up of them in bed, we get a real sense of the characters and I really thought this was a lovely story, but Greene is also a favourite historical MM writer so that might be bias. This can be read without any of the other books in the series so I'd recommend it on its own.