Swordplay by Chris T. Kat

 After leaving his dream job as an Atlantic City detective, Jeff Woods has moved to Washington DC with his life partner, Alex Fisher, and Alex's disabled little brother Sean. Parker Trenkins, Jeff’s ex-partner on the force, has made the move as well, along with his significant other David. Jeff and Parker partner up once again, but in a new way, as owners of their own detective agency.

Life is difficult at the best of times. Sean loses sight in one of his eyes, a direct result of being pushed into the Atlantic by a homicidal maniac a year ago. In his struggle to deal with everything, a restless Alex enrolls in tai chi classes at a nearby school.

As it happens, a murder case Jeff and Parker take involves the head of that very tai chi school, Charles Cooper. Cooper is a suspect in the murder of a financial corporation official. He appears to have motive. Jeff and Parker's investigation arouses the real killer’s interest, and if they don't uncover his identity soon, it may be too late for them.

I stumbled upon this series over a year ago and just fell in love with it.  I do feel it important to start this review off with saying, that I don’t really like murder mystery books.  For some reason, I have never been able to get into the stories that much and usually they end up bugging me more than anything.  That was not the case, AT ALL, with this series.  I just love the way that Ms. Kat has written this word, and the characters, and has made me fall in love with them with each book.

My favorite character would have to be Jeff, because you can see the way that he changes, the way that he improves himself as the story progresses.  I loved Alex as well.  With the way that he is described, you would think that he is a complete pushover and wouldn’t stand up for himself.  However that isn’t the case.  He is one of the strongest characters that I have read in a very long time.  And of course, you can’t forget Sean who has such an important role in the books.  Without him, they just wouldn’t be the same.

I love how different this story is compared to what is out there right now.  This book certainly stands on its own and I really hope that we get to see more of Jeff and Alex in the future.  I even hope that David and Parker will get their own series because they are both very interesting characters, who added a lot to this story. 

If you enjoy murder mysteries that also have a good bit of smut, and teaches you the true meaning of love, friendship, and family then be sure to check this one out.

Oh, and while this is part of the series, I do feel as though you could read it as a standalone, but trust me, once you meet these guys, you will want to read more about them!

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