I've read a couple of Jay Hogan novels but haven't stopped to look up who she is. Didn't realise she was from NZ - though I've read the marvellous Tarmarillo Tart! - but became suspicious when I heard the accents the narrator, Gary Furlong, was using. I've heard a few of his lately and he's not a New Zealander, but did a good job here.

This is from Hogan's website: "Jay is a 2020 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Gay Romance and her book Off Balance was the 2021 New Zealand Romance Book of the Year. She is a New Zealand author writing mm romance and romantic suspense, primarily set in New Zealand. She writes character driven romances with lots of humour, a good dose of reality and a splash of angst. She's travelled extensively, lived in many countries, and in a past life she was a critical care nurse, nurse educator and counsellor. Jay is owned by a huge Maine Coon cat and a gorgeous Cocker Spaniel."

Up Close and Personal is a crime romance - have read very few in this sub-genre, but happened to read the first in Gregory Ashe's Hazard and Somerset series recently, which wowed me. This didn't wow me but in some ways was better because the romance side was as strong as the crime side, whereas the other book is weighed in favour of the crime story - at least in terms of how much crime story there is to wade through - what little word count was given over to the romance was where the novel soared!

Hogan has created a marvellous character in the incredibly flirty detective Mark Knight - he's a scream! And the way he is (romantically) slain by the serious forensic pathologist Edward Newton is a great tension device.

Up Close and Personal is everything you want from a romance novel.

And yet ... there are no audiobooks by her in any of my 5 Australian libraries, or in Borrow Box.

From Tantor Media's website: "Gary Furlong

Originally from Ireland, Gary Furlong has worked as a teacher in Niigata, Japan; a puppeteer in Prague; an improv artist in Memphis; and a festival performer in Ireland. A naturally gifted mimic, Gary began narrating audiobooks for a living in 2015 and hasn't looked back.

Gary specializes in accents and dialect, with fluency in Irish, British RP, and Standard American. In four years of working full-time with audiobook production, Gary has narrated over 100 audiobooks spanning fantasy, thriller, romance, YA, and nonfiction for world-class publishing houses and independent authors. In 2018 Gary won a much coveted AudioFile Earphones Award and the Independent Audiobook Award for Romance.

He now lives in Texas with his wife and their golden retriever called "Gansey," which means "Sweater" in Irish Gaelic." ( )

This is book 3 in the Auckland Med series. I have greatly loved every book in the series because each one is so different and so good. They can easily be read as standalones and do not fall into a formulaic story pattern as many series do. In this installment we get a mystery that doesn't disappoint!

The "opposites attract" chemistry between Mark and Ed is off the charts and watching these two come together was so gratifying! I also loved Tink and Paris together.

I am SO looking forward to book 4. ( )

This has been a good series but it's more a mystery/police procedural than anything to do with medicine. A medical professional is always one of the main characters, but the stories always focus more on the police detective. Edward, a pathologist, and Mark, a cop, are both good at what they do. They're mostly settled in their lives, and they both come with a boatload of previous relationship baggage and phobias...enough to fill a mental ward. After the usual dance around one another they both acknowledge that they "like" each other...maybe even could love...but of course theirs a monkey wrench coming into the equation...they're both are thoroughly convinced that it would be a very bad idea to act on the attraction. They're equals in so many ways. Fate steps in and forces them to work together on a murder case that needs both their expertise. Nothing boasts that attraction like being forced to share not only a case but a house and a protection squad of fellow cops. Danger threats both them and also Edward's dog. I loved that dog...Tinkerbell...120 ponds of slobbery kisses. The dog, not the guys: Mark and Edward almost bite the dust another few times, but they come to realize that their feelings for each other are real...and live is short and theirs may be shorter. Character from the first two books reappear throughout the story making it a great homecoming. I hate losing characters that help make a series special. The banter between Edward and Mark was funny and priceless, and one of the most beautiful and amazing "Happy Ever After's" too. ( )