When PI Dick Hardesty receives a visit from Stuart Anderson regarding some investigative work Anderson would like done Hardesty wonders about the man’s intentions.

After all, Anderson is obviously married, the pale mark on his ring finger indicates the removal of the wedding ring not long ago.

Hardesty is gay, most of his clients are gay, they are in a gay area of the town and he wonders just what Anderson may be up to. Anderson, the CEO of a kitchen supply chain wants Hardesty to do background checks on possible new employees for his company.

His reasoning is that Hardesty will not be predisposed to find fault if it should be learned that one of the potential new managers or assistant managers is gay.

Phil Stark suggested Hardesty as the man for the job. Stark is a hustler now Male Model-Escort who works for a high-class Male Modeling/Escort service operated by Arnold Glick and his wife Iris.

Before long Mr. Anderson is quite dead and the ring is still not on his finger. Stuart Anderson was not quite the total straight he liked to present to the public. Whenever he was on business trips he enjoyed the services of the Glick escorts as well as others in other cities.

Hardesty realizes that the police are sure to begin to piece the circumstances of the death with the Glick Modeling-Escort business. Because Phil is a longtime friend Hardesty sets out to discover how and why Anderson died and darn near runs afoul of both the police and the murderer.

In The Hired Man Dorien Grey has done it again! Writer Grey continues to grow as an author.

The Hired Man has all the memorable well defined characters, plot and sub plots, twists and turns we have come to expect from this writer.

The machinations, scheming and intrigue presented by the ‘good’ and the ‘bad,’ the ‘straight’ and ‘the gay’ are so similar as to be indistinguishable. Dialogue between Writer Grey’s characters is gutsy, hard hitting, believable. Circumstances, settings and the story line itself are all presented in Grey’s usual indomitable style.

The setting might be nearly anywhere, the artifice is found in all strata of society.

Writer Grey is well capable of presenting each of his characters as neither to be viewed solely as GAY nor STRAIGHT, GOOD or BAD, they are merely PEOPLE who have imperfections, warts and each of the foibles as beset us all.

It is this quality that makes Dorien Grey’s work appealing to everyone who enjoys a good solid mystery filled with red herrings, good writing, intrigue and entertaining subject matter.

Good read.  Happy to recomend

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Reviewed by: Molly's Reviews  molly martin

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 Criterion use for review:

__+_____ Original Story Idea?

__+_____ Does the first sentence, paragraph, page hook your attention immediately?

___+____ Is there a plot? a subplot? Do they tie in to make the story complete?

____+_____ Are transitions handled so the flow of reading isn't interrupted?

___+______ Do the main characters seem real?

___+______ Does the dialogue between characters seem natural? ___+______ Conflict Present? Was the conflict believable? Was it able to sustain the book?

___+______ Was motivation logical? Believable? Could you see yourself reacting that way in that situation?

__+_______ Was the climax believable? Could you envision this really happening?

___+______ Did the conclusion seem a natural outcome?