So, a recent Amazon search turned up another new series by Morgan Brice, this one set in 1896 Missouri. (That search turned up other happy things, as we'll see over the next few entries.)
Peacemaker inaugurates another new series for Brice, this one centered on two (in modern terms) gay men working for the Paranormal Secret Service of the US. Neither knows the other one has an interest in men. Both are attracted to each other. However, in this era, when such things were illegal...
Anyway, Owen Sharps is a medium, who can see and occasionally speak with ghosts. His partner, whom he meets on the train from New Pittsburgh, is Calvin Springfield, a psychometrist, who can read objects. They are replacing tow missing agents in St Louis who were investigating some rather shady land deals around train rail spurs. As part of their compensation, they get a rather Steampunk pullman car and a witch butler named Winston.
Both have a female contact in St. Louis; a woman muckraking reporter and a pinkerton showgirl.
While the story follows the beats of a normal meet/cute, they do get involved in a plot by an ambitious vampire to open the gates of hell in a limestone mine, and do eventually realize the attraction is mutual.
While anyone who has read Brice before (or probably her Gail Z. Martin books as well) will recognize the plot devices and pacing,I am giving her credit for doing her research on homosexuality in the era, finding the least offensive slang for the men involved and presenting ways they could seek companionship in an era where such things were highly verboten.
While this book shares several bones with other series by the same author, the setting drew me in, and I really did wind up enjoying it.
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