Review: Billionaire's Row
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 7, 2010
After yet another night of drinking way too much, Detective Michael Weiss is not too happy to be called in to a murder scene.  A dead body's been found in the part of town known as Billionaire's Row, in the home of a famous actor.  The case gets complicated pretty quickly, and it's not long before Michael is suspicious of the way it's being handled.  With an unexpected attraction to one of the suspects, a lover who's only using him to advance his own career, and the strain of keeping his sexuality under wraps, Michael's got a lot on his plate.  Can he find out who the real killer is without destroying his career in the process?Billionaire's Row is a dark mystery-romance that's heavy on the mystery.  Michael is not your typical romance hero.  He's deeply closeted, has a problem with alcohol--while it's not stated, he displays all the behaviors of an alcoholic--and he often makes poor choices.  Even so, he cares about his job and doesn't want to see an innocent man blamed for murder, even if allowing that to happen will make things easier on him.  Most of the story focuses on Michael, and his attempts to solve the case despite the interference of others.  Watching him try to navigate the rich, secretive world the victim inhabited was fascinating.  Flaws, terrible choices, and all, I liked Michael a lot, and I wanted to see him get his life together.  His love interest, actor Sam, is not as well fleshed-out.  He seems like a good man, caring and healing from his own past, but I would have liked to see more of him.  The romance angle of the story almost felt like a subplot.  As a mystery, Billionaire's Row is gritty and engaging, full of twists, turns, and surprising characters.  As a romance, Billionaire's Row is quite a bit less satisfying.  Since the mystery was so interesting, I didn't feel too cheated by this, but others might.CassieReviewed for Joyfully Reviewed