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C.S. Poe's Reviews > Pressure Head
Pressure Head (The Plumber's Mate #1)
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Pressure Head is the first book of J.L. Merrow’s utterly charming and hilarious British mystery series, The Plumber’s Mate, which also has a fantastic and believable romantic subplot.
I’ve owned this book for an embarrassingly long time and, as any reader with a TBR that reaches the sky well knows, sometimes books simply get overlooked. I knew nothing about this series other than it was adored by fans and had some (don’t say it, don’t say it�) cheeky British humor. And let me be the first to say, as an American reader, the funny really translated quite well, a testament to how good Merrow is at characterization and voice. She’s got the snarky amateur sleuth down to a T, but with such a unique twist on the archetype, and I’m kicking myself for not being part of the excitement when these books first released!
Tom Paretski (he’s not Polish) is a plumber with wit, attitude, and a capacity for finding missing things—specifically things that have been intentionally squirreled away. And not only objects, but dead bodies. Which is exactly what DI Dave Southgate calls Tom to assist with, and how a smalltown plumber finds himself not only solving the murder of Melanie Porter, a young estate agent who assisted the local church with their books, but doing so while entangled with the private investigator hired by her distraught parents—Phil Morrison. The same Phil Morrison that Tom used to have a high school crush on and who relentlessly bullied Tom for being gay. And the twist? Turns out Phil’s done some soul searching in the intervening years and isn’t all that straight himself.
Like I said, I absolutely adored this book. The witnesses, the suspects, the red herrings, the clues, the big finale, it was all so clever and well-paced that, upon finishing, I immediately bought book two without hesitation. Because Grade A Mystery aside, there’s a promise between Tom and Phil, and that promise includes some obvious growing pains, and I love a hard-fought for romance. If you’re like me and haven’t yet read this series, start today! Start now!
I’ve owned this book for an embarrassingly long time and, as any reader with a TBR that reaches the sky well knows, sometimes books simply get overlooked. I knew nothing about this series other than it was adored by fans and had some (don’t say it, don’t say it�) cheeky British humor. And let me be the first to say, as an American reader, the funny really translated quite well, a testament to how good Merrow is at characterization and voice. She’s got the snarky amateur sleuth down to a T, but with such a unique twist on the archetype, and I’m kicking myself for not being part of the excitement when these books first released!
Tom Paretski (he’s not Polish) is a plumber with wit, attitude, and a capacity for finding missing things—specifically things that have been intentionally squirreled away. And not only objects, but dead bodies. Which is exactly what DI Dave Southgate calls Tom to assist with, and how a smalltown plumber finds himself not only solving the murder of Melanie Porter, a young estate agent who assisted the local church with their books, but doing so while entangled with the private investigator hired by her distraught parents—Phil Morrison. The same Phil Morrison that Tom used to have a high school crush on and who relentlessly bullied Tom for being gay. And the twist? Turns out Phil’s done some soul searching in the intervening years and isn’t all that straight himself.
Like I said, I absolutely adored this book. The witnesses, the suspects, the red herrings, the clues, the big finale, it was all so clever and well-paced that, upon finishing, I immediately bought book two without hesitation. Because Grade A Mystery aside, there’s a promise between Tom and Phil, and that promise includes some obvious growing pains, and I love a hard-fought for romance. If you’re like me and haven’t yet read this series, start today! Start now!
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