Midnight's Delight

Midnight's Delight
John H. Baillie
Zumaya Publications
ISBN: 1-55410-225-1
Fiction, Fantasy
Review by Justin Tate

Before I rant about the ugly cover art and poor product description, let me tell you that this book is awesome. It contains 13 cases, which I like to call "Mysteries on Crack." Jason Midnight is a detective that will take on any crime, no matter how awkward they may seem. The cases range from a sneaky lady who is able to seduce Midnight by overpowering his thoughts with erotic saxophone music to a homicide in which the culprit is an aphrodisiac chocolate bar. Yes, this isn’t a book to be taken seriously. What makes this collection of nonsense such a blast to read, however, is John Baillie’s fun, bubbly narrative that is an absolute “delight" to read. The dialogue is perfect, stereotyped characters are slightly exaggerated for great humor, and surprisingly everything ends up feeling realistic. You may feel like you’re wasting your time on such absurd stories, but something keeps you turning the pages and looking forward to the next adventure.
Now, about the cover art. It isn’t so much that it’s ugly, that it is wrong. I was hoping for something cuckoo and zany to match the book’s contents. The description on the back kind of left me in the dark too. I honestly had the impression that this was going to be a serious, almost horror-felt novel before going into it. If I hadn’t been assigned to review it, it’s likely I would have never found out what a true gem this book is. John H. Baillie is definitely a talented author, hopefully one day he’ll make it big and get a second edition printed with a higher budget available for the cover illustration.