This is one of these cases in which I have zero sympathies for the victim or his family. Ben Orton was a hypocrite and a bigot, nothing lost. And his family? They tried to cover up all his sins and make a saint of him. Yeah, they all truly deserved each other.

And having a gay's rights activist as a scapegoat with close to nothing when it comes to evidence made it all even worse.

The case comes in a very difficult time for Dave; his father is hospitalized and probably dying; his relationship with Doug isn't at his best point, and Doug is going through similar issues with his mom. And he keeps asking for an open relationship, which is not something with which Dave is comfortable.

So, what does he do? He submerges himself in his work, of course! And he has a lot of suspects to go through, as the sheriff wasn't the most loved person in town. I like how we are slowly understanding the damage that the victim has caused to lots of people, how we are made aware of complex social issues like racism, misogyny and homophobia that are rampant in the town (and everywhere, TBH) but all is done almost in a subdued tone, in a very matter-of-fact way.

I was a little surprised by Dave's connection with Cecil, mostly because he has always been against cheating, and yet... Not very sure about how I feel about it, although given Dave's mood maybe isn't so surprising.

Nevertheless, this was, as always, a great book and I loved it. The narration by Keith Szarabajka is good... except when it comes to women voices.