REVIEW: The Burnt by Peter E Fenton (Declan Hunt Mysteries #3)

THE BURNT

The Declan Hunt Mysteries - Book Three

by Peter E. Fenton

Release Date: August 5, 2025

Review

I wish there were more mystery romances out there. I love the mystery-solving, both the entertainment value of the cases, but also as a plot point to a developing relationship. And Declan and Charlie are a dynamic duo. They have great banter, but are also caring people.

Book three, and Declan and Charlie are still finding their way as boyfriends and colleagues, but it’s clear they could be amazing. And now Charlie is learning to become a detective, too. They each take on a case, but before long, they find their cases connecting. Which is perfect, because they do their best work together.

They put to bed a case that Declan worked on as a police officer, but it also uncovers some things that I’m sure will cause them both some headaches in the future!!

Peter is a great writer, and I especially love this series.

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Synopsis

Book three in the Declan Hunt Mysteries series

How far would you be willing to go to reveal the truth?

Finding work-life balance isn't always easy when you’re sleeping with the boss. Charlie Watts is feeling stressed as he studies for his private investigator’s license, starts taking on his own cases and tries to navigate his relationship with Declan Hunt. He thinks he can handle it, but every time their relationship is going well, work always seems to get in the way.

While Charlie investigates a threatening note that appears to be from a boy who mysteriously disappeared ten years ago, Declan tries to find the meaning behind the final words of a man who was brutally murdered. As Declan and Charlie work to solve these mysteries, secrets from the past are exposed, Charlie is haunted by ghostly dreams, and Declan is forced to confront some terrible truths from a hidden past.

Ultimately, the truth will be revealed, but at what cost? And will Declan and Charlie be able to solve the mystery of where they want to go next with their relationship before things at work take a terrible turn?

About Peter E. Fenton

It started with poetry. When Peter E. Fenton was having a difficult day, he would put pen to paper and dive into a world of imagination. None of these poems were published. They were kept in a book on a shelf for future reference. A way of looking back at a time and place in life.

But poems led to short stories...tales often told in letter form to amuse friends during their long summers away from home working jobs in theatre.

And then twenty years ago he met a composer and writer and they became life partners, and they got the ridiculous idea that perhaps writing musicals and plays would be fun. And so they did that. While his partner wrote on over twenty projects, Peter participated in four of those projects, and these plays were produced across the country, won awards and some were even published.

But life can't all be "play". There was also some work to be done, in this case a 42 year relationship with the Royal Ontario Museum, where Peter spent his time in palaeontology doing collection management and going on expedition in remote locations including the Canadian Rockies, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

When the time came to step away from the fossils at the museum, a new passion took hold ...the desire to write a longer narrative...a book... a gay romance. He wanted to write something that would draw on many years of living, loving and exploring the world.

And so with the kind support of his partner, he began writing his first novel, and a publisher expressed interest, and in the spring of 2022 The Woodcarver's Model was released and was a four time nominee in the Goodreads M/M Romance Readers’ Choice Awards.

Peter currently resides in Toronto, Canada with his partner (who still writes plays) and is now working on a series of gay detective novels. His upcoming novels include, Mann Hunt (the first of a three part series) which was just released by Pride Publishing in August of 2023, Not Not Normal (a teen romance) which will be released by Lorimer Publishing in 2024, and Hoodoo House (the second book in the Declan Hunt Mysteries series) that will come out in June of 2024.

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