Foxe Tail, by Haley Walsh, a Skyler Foxe Mystery

Foxe Tail

Haley Walsh

Yeah, I know, it's not historical... but I'm multidimensional, like most everyone else.  Well, three dimensional.. I like historical novels, end of the world novels, and M/M novels.  This fits one of those dimensions, OK?

Skyler Fox is a new English teacher at James Polk High in a small town way out off LA.  He went to that school too, so it means all the more to him to be part of the faculty.  He fears being outed as a gay man mainly because he wants to keep his job, and though legally they couldn't fire him for that, they certainly could lay him off.  So when a gorgeous new biology teacher starts at Polk, he has to struggle to hide his attraction.  Things heat up in other ways, however, and rather than proving to be a distraction, Skyler starts wondering if there are connections between the biology teacher and the dastardly goings-on.

The mystery starts with the murder of the principal's son behind a gay dance club.  Skyler and his police detective friend Sydney think the club must be mixed up somehow with the murder, so they pursue that angle of investigation.  Sydney is annoyed at Sky for getting too involved with the case, bur it seems boys will be boys and in spite of threats on his life, Sky persists.  He becomes invollved with helping a student get onto the football team, hoping it will help his behavior problems.  It is then that Skyler begins to suspect the football faculty of being up to no good and possibly even connected to the murder.

Skyler is quite likable, has the sort of bachelor life we most of us envy but know better than to think really exists, but sometimes you just want to slap him.  He can be obtuse about dangers at times, and makes some questionable judgment calls, like taking his former Latin lover with him to the princiipal's house.  Other characters fill out the cast, Skyler's detective and other friends, the other teachers, and a few peripheral characters, including a big handsome guy with piercings "down there" that Sky brings home for the books only actual sex scene.

The initial mystery  did not catch this reader's imagination, but when the jocks at Polk High bring in their own sinister subplot, I got really into it.  The book is what the author called "a story arc" so I was caught unawares when the initial mystery was solved but much was left dangling.  Interesting literary idea, but I tend to think it risks someone losing interest before the next part of the arc is published.  Fortunately for me it's coming out next month.

One aspect of this novel that struck me was how difficult it is for Skyler to have to listen to anti-gay comments from fellow teachers.  he wants to argue but he is too caught up in hiding his own lifestyle.  that is just one of the injustices someone like Skyler must cope with, having to accept behavior that hurts but nonetheless having his very fears proved by the behavior.  I know from experience if he does come out, with something sort of similar being a person with a disability, that the situation would shift from "we get to say who we hate" to "we have to walk on egg shells around him".  Walsh brings all this out clearly and sensitively.