Keep Me In Mind Tour: M/M ~ Desert Foxe by Haley Walsh ~ (Character Interview with Keith Fletcher, Excerpt + Giveaway)
Author Name: Haley Walsh
Book Name: Desert Foxe
Series: The Skyler Foxe Mysteries
Number: Five, plus two novellas (one due soon!)
Release Date: November 2014
Publisher: MLR Press
Cover Artist: Winterheart Designs
Buy The Book:
Blurb:
Skyler and his friends go to Palm Springs for the annual White Party and find murder!
Out and proud high school English teacher Skyler Foxe and his posse of friends go to the annual Palm Springs White Party for a weekend of fun, frivolity, and luscious men. But there are boy troubles of all kinds ahead. Skyler's boyfriend and high school coach Keith Fletcher has to endure an embarrassing number of Skyler's former hook-ups, one of the SFC might be going solo, Skyler encounters unexpected and unwelcome participants at the party, and there's a murder on the dance floor, literally at Skyler's feet! Both Skyler and Keith are drawn into investigating more than murder when the FBI asks Skyler to do the unthinkable.
Pages or Words: E-book: 232 pages, Audio: About 7.5 hours
Narrator: Joel Leslie
Categories: Contemporary, Crime Fiction, Erotica, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Mystery
Today I'm happy to welcome Keith, from Desert Foxe by Haley Walsh, to Bayou Book Junkie!
Keith, thanks so much for agreeing to this interview. It's a pleasure to have you here!
Keith: Well, my vision for the future and his vision may be two entirely different things. He gets a little squeamish where relationship issues come into the picture. Took him a long time to sort out his feelings and I don’t like to push. But my plans definitely involve him and a…deepening of our relationship. And that’s all I’ll say on the matter right now. Let me just say that Skyler is one of the most interesting men I have ever met, and I’m damned glad I did. You’ll never know how glad.
Character Interview:
Today I'm happy to welcome Keith, from Desert Foxe by Haley Walsh, to Bayou Book Junkie!
Keith, thanks so much for agreeing to this interview. It's a pleasure to have you here!
Q: Keith Fletcher, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Keith: Sure. I was born and raised in Seattle, went to school in Boulder, and now find myself in southern California. It’s no surprise. I was always a bit of a rolling stone. Never ended up with any tenure as I was always moving.
Q: You’re a teacher?
Keith: That’s right. High school. I teach biology and I coach football. It’s a tough call as to what’s more important. As for biology, I came by that honestly as my mother is a biology prof up in Seattle. But I’ve always been a football nut. Played in high school, then in college. Was all ready to go pro, too, when I screwed up my knee is some scrimmages. There went those aspirations. So I pursued a teaching credential and went ahead with teaching high school out of college. Been at it a few years now.
Q: Where did you meet your partner Skyler Foxe?
Keith: I met him at my latest job at James Polk High in Redlands California. He teaches English Lit and the first time I saw him he insulted me. Oh, he didn’t know it, didn’t know I coached, but he kind of dissed football players, jocks. But the minute I laid eyes on him, insulting or not, I knew I wanted him. *cough* I mean, to get to know him. He’s cute as hell. Blond. Adorable. He’s got such a lively spirit. He’s a lot of fun to be around. And he has a very dedicated following of friends. And his students are as loyal as they come. They’ve supported him in his darkest hours. You have to admire someone like that, who can gain the trust of so many different people. That’s my Skyler.
Q: Is it tough having a relationship at work?
Keith: No, we just have to keep it formal is all.
Q: I understand you were responsible for outing him.
Keith: Yeah. That was tough. I can’t go into details but I know it wasn’t fair of me to do it. But it was also terribly romantic, or at least I tried to make it so. The fallout for him wasn’t so great. He was in the closet at work and with his mom. All sorts of things happened because of it. We had a few bad days after that but it got cleared up and we are back together.
Q: He broke up with you over it?
Keith: I couldn’t blame him. But I fought damned hard to win him back.
Q: What about these murder investigations he gets involved in?
Keith: I really hate that he does that! I mean I get it. These people were important to him. I get it. But dammit, that shit is dangerous! And he just stumbles in, gets involved, and doesn’t THINK! So I insisted that if he plans on continuing—and he insists he won’t but I know him—he has to take self-defense classes. I can’t tell you how many times he put himself in danger and didn’t know how to get out of it. It’s the sensible thing to do but sometimes my little idiot boyfriend doesn’t always follow the sensible path.
Q: Do you think it’s his age? He’s ten years younger than you are.
Keith: I suppose. I know at twenty-five I did some pretty stupid things, too, but this? Investigating a murder is pretty over the top. But damned if he doesn’t solve those cases. He’s a pretty smart and clever guy. No wonder I love him so much.
Q: What do you see for your future?
Keith: Well, my vision for the future and his vision may be two entirely different things. He gets a little squeamish where relationship issues come into the picture. Took him a long time to sort out his feelings and I don’t like to push. But my plans definitely involve him and a…deepening of our relationship. And that’s all I’ll say on the matter right now. Let me just say that Skyler is one of the most interesting men I have ever met, and I’m damned glad I did. You’ll never know how glad.
Excerpt:
Taquito Grill was crowded for a Sunday night. Jamie and Dave had arrived not long after Skyler and Keith. Jamie, hair spiked and a fire engine red in honor of his firefighter boyfriend, clung to Dave’s arm and bounced in his seat. “We’re so excited about Palm Springs,” he squealed. Dave grinned at him fondly. “It’s going to be so much fun with Dave there.” He patted the large bicep. “And we both agreed that we can dance with other people. Isn’t that cool?” Dave nodded. “Just as long as we keep our hands above the waist.” Jamie demonstrated with jazz hands in the air.
Skyler glanced hopefully at Keith, but the man was scowling into his bottle of Dos Equis. With a defeated sigh, Skyler sat back against the bench seat. Part of the fun of the White Party was dancing with a bunch of different partners. But, he had to admit, the other part of the fun was hooking up with them, too. Under the table, he rubbed conciliatory circles on the man’s hard thigh.
Keith’s tensed muscles seemed to relax under Skyler’s ministrations and he flicked a glance at Skyler with a sheepish smile before putting the beer bottle to his lips.
“Oh, and Dave,” Jamie rambled on, “we are staying at a huge hotel. It’s fantastic. Humongous pool. And some of the activities will be there.”
“Activities?” said Keith for the first time since ordering his drink.
Jamie leaned across the bench seat toward him. “Well! One of the activities is the Splash Pool Party, with live music. It’s all day. Nothing but beautiful shirtless men in tiny white swim trunks.”
Skyler wondered if Keith’s brows could furrow any deeper.
“White? So you have to wear white?”
“It’s a ‘white party,’ Keith,” said Skyler. “Hence the name. We wear white. And you’d look fabulous in white, with your dark skin tones.” He squeezed Keith’s thigh under the table.
Keith seemed to be thinking his own thoughts about that as he studied Skyler. “You’d be in white, too. I love you in white.”
Skyler blinked. “You do?” He melted against Keith. He couldn’t help it when the man looked at him with those sultry eyes.
“Save it for the White Party,” said Jamie.
Dave turned his head toward the door. “Philip and Rodolfo. Finally! …Uh oh.”
They were in mid argument and hadn’t taken their narrowed eyes off each other as they made their way to the table. Rodolfo sat hard and crossed his arms over his magenta shirt. Philip settled on his chair and pointedly looked away from his Ecuadorian boyfriend.
Skyler instantly went on alert. “What’s the matter with you two?”
“Nothing this pene doesn’t know about,” said Rodolfo, waving his hand. His wrist clanked from his bracelets.
“Don’t start with the name-calling,” said Philip, rounding on him and pushing up his black-rimmed glasses. “Can we just stow it for now?”
“Stow it? Stow it? Fine. I can ‘stow it.’”
“Then please do,” muttered Philip, menu in front of his clenched mouth.
Rodolfo slapped his menu to the table and jerked toward Philip. “Do you know what is wrong with you, Philip?”
Clutching his menu, Philip closed his eyes and sighed. “No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me in florid detail.”
“You have no sense of fun or adventure. Now take amante here,” and he gestured toward Skyler.
Skyler grabbed for his margarita. “Leave me out of it.”
“Skyler has a keen sense of adventure. And look. There is Keith. He is more than willing to go to the White Party with his lover.”
“I don’t know about more than willing,” muttered Keith.
“But not you. You with your timetables and schedules and graphs and bullet points.”
“I’m just mapping out our weekend. Is that so horrible? There’s a lot to do! Things to see! Men…to avoid.”
“AHA! That’s it, isn’t it? It all comes down to this.”
“Rodolfo…”
Jamie stuck his long arm between the two. “Hey! You guys! You’re not supposed to argue anymore. Not since you started fucking.”
“Jamie,” said Skyler out of the corner of his mouth, eyes searching the busy restaurant. “Keep your voice down. Family place.”
He scrunched up his face at Skyler—as close to a sneer as he got—and leaned into the arguing couple again. “The fact is that you guys are supposed to get along now.”
“I’m getting along just fine!” said Rodolfo too loudly. “It’s him that isn’t getting along with me!”
Philip slumped back in his seat. “Oh, for the love of God, give it a rest already.”
“Give it a rest? Yes, that's exactly what I should be doing.” Rodolfo threw down the menu and lurched to his feet. “I’m suddenly not hungry.”
Philip clenched his menu so tightly it bent at the edges. “Well I am.”
“Fine! Stay here. Eat. I’m leaving.”
“Bye! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out… Much.”
Rodolfo threw his glare at each in turn before pivoting and stalking toward the entrance. He pushed open one heavy wooden door and let it swish shut. There was a pause as the restaurant patrons fell silent and stared at the double doors a split second before they were thrown open again and Rodolfo stomped toward the table. He stood over Philip with his foot tapping.
“I don’t have the keys to the car.”
Meet Haley Walsh:
Haley Walsh tried acting, but decided the actor’s life was not for her. Instead, she became a successful graphic designer and art director in Los Angeles, her hometown. After fifteen years of burning money in the ’80s and early ’90s, she retired from the graphics industry and turned her interests toward writing. She became a freelance newspaper reporter, wrote articles for quirky magazines, published award-winning short stories, and now writes a critically acclaimed GLBT mystery series, the Skyler Foxe Mysteries. She’s lived all her life in southern California, sampling wines and chomping chocolate. Oh, and she also writes a multi-award nominated medieval mystery series under another name. Yeah, it’s a living. http://.SkylerFoxeMysteries.com
Where to find the author:
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4390441.Haley_Walsh
Tour Dates & Stops:
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Congratulations on the new release! Looking forward to reading it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julie! Hope you enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteI've loved all the Skylar Foxe books and now they are on audio to!
ReplyDeleteAnd they are fantastic. The narrator is perfect!
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ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the release of your audiobook forDeret Foxe! I absolutely this series and will look forward to getting the audiobooks too! Thank you for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteGreat to learn a bit more from Keith's POV. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI've read all of the Skyler books to date and loved them! Would love to win this too!
ReplyDeleteskadlec1@yahoo.com