Pretty Pretty Boys cover art

Pretty Pretty Boys

Hazard and Somerset Mystery Series, Book 1

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Pretty Pretty Boys

By: Gregory Ashe
Narrated by: Tristan James
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

About this listen

After Emery Hazard loses his job as a detective in Saint Louis, he heads back to his hometown - and to the local police force there. Home, though, brings no happy memories, and the ghosts of old pain are very much alive in Wahredua. Hazard's new partner, John-Henry Somerset, had been one of the worst tormentors, and Hazard still wonders what Somerset's role was in the death of Jeff Langham, Hazard's first boyfriend.

When a severely burned body is discovered, Hazard finds himself drawn deeper into the case than he expects. Determining the identity of the dead man proves impossible, and solving the murder grows more and more unlikely. But as the city's only gay police officer, Hazard is placed at the center of a growing battle between powerful political forces. To his surprise, Hazard finds an unlikely ally in his partner, the former bully. And as they spend more time together, something starts to happen between them, something that Hazard can't - and doesn't want - to explain.

The discovery of a second mutilated corpse, though, reveals clues that the two murders are linked, and as Hazard gets closer to answers, he uncovers a conspiracy of murder and betrayal that goes deeper - and closer to home - than he could ever expect.

©2017 Gregory Ashe (P)2018 Tantor Literature & Fiction Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Police Procedural Romance Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Murder Crime
All stars
Most relevant
I loved it, listened to all six books and now back for a relisten.

The mysteries hidden under the surface of Wahredua's small town facade build to a crescendo over the course of six books. As the first in the series, Pretty Pretty Boys kicks off some of its themes including the warring factions that make up Wahredua's population, the corruption that underpins its institutions and the monsters that both conceal.

We are also introduced to everyone's favourite towering, neurodiverse, grumpy cat detective, Emery Hazard, and the future love of his life, and present pain in the arse, reformed golden boy, John-Henry Somerset. The slowburn to end all slowburns, Hazard and Somerset's relationship deepens in a way that is every bit as emotionally devastating as it physically scorching.

The narration is excellent. Gentle and relaxing while able to provide distinctive and compelling aural portraits of both of the leads and lends colour to the many supporting characters.

Great American Gothic/Noir MM Series

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A few narrators can make the phone book sound like a great story. This narrator managed to make a good story sound like the phone book.
I thought about returning the book but the story did grip me enough. Would love to hear it read by someone else!

great story, let down by narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Never thought I'd fall in love with a villan. Gregory Ashe is a great author, these books are written with deep emotional and intellectual intelligence. I feel like Tristan James was the best narrator. He was able to give each character their own sounding voice and unlike some narrators he rarely got the voices mixed up.
I read all 16 books in the current Hazard and Sommers series. They are definatley on my re-read list.

My new favorite author

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narration was very monotone; there was very little difference between the voices of the two main characters so I often had to wait until the next sentence to find out who said something. At times, a character would do something full of intensity and energy, and the narration conveyed the emotion of paint drying.

The setup of the story was really engaging and the two main characters have a rich history that led to a lot of layers and emotions unfolding. I felt really frustrated at times, not knowing what was going on, but I’m not sure if that is the writing or the narration. However, I was sucked in enough by the personal characters’ plot line that I stuck it out, and it was very much worth it.

Hope the next book is good.

Interesting enough to make you want to finish it, but with some frustration along the way

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Reluctantly, Det Emery Hazard returns to his home town of Wahredua MI to take up a position with the local force. Hazard has bad memories of being bullied and physically assaulted by a group of teens during high school so he is shocked to learn his new partner is John-Henry ‘Somers’ Somerset, one of his the bullies. While he presents as friendly and carefree, Hazard can see that Somers is slipping into alcoholism and wonders at the causes. Somers would like to show he’s changed, but Hazard is not ready to forgive and the two form an uneasy partnership as they tackle hate crimes, clashes between left-wing radicals and right-wing militia, and a mounting number of deaths.

This police procedural had an incredibly rich storyline! The murders and political tensions were gripping and substantial parts of the plot. The push and pull of bad blood and attraction between Hazard and Somers lasted the entire story without much resolution and will probably carry on through the series. Some will be frustrated that Somers continually feels he’s owed apologies even after all his appalling behaviour and I’m hoping that will play out in later books too. I am never a fan of audio narrator Tristan James’ diction and style but he’s at his best when he narrates law enforcement stories like this (the first 3 books in the series are currently free on the Audible Plus catalogue).

Gripping and interesting gay police procedural!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
love the twists and turns. the character development is fantastic. very slight complaint that the story's pace is a little slow at times.

excellent story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.