Out-Foxed

The Skyler Foxe Mysteries, Book 3

By: Haley Walsh

Narrated by: Joel Leslie

While chaperoning a high school dance, English teacher Skyler Foxe has just been dragged out of the closet by the hunky assistant football coach - a man he thought he knew. But when Sky discovers Keith has been keeping a big secret, he breaks it off, leaving both of them lonely and confused. With troubles mounting from the press, angry parents, confused students, Skyler's own mom, and a murdered teacher, what's a boy to do but discover - once and for all - who's behind all the dirty doings at James Polk High?

©2012 Haley Walsh (P)2015 Haley Walsh

Joel Leslie is phenomenal!

Any additional comments?

This review is for the Skyler Foxe Mystery, books 1 - 3.5. I literally listened to them back to back with only rest to sleep. lol

Skylar Foxe is annoying, beautiful, charming, funny, lovely, outrages, trouble, and just perfect! Although Jaime is my favorite character in this series you grow to love Skylar's Jewish beat friend, her new Filipino boyfriend, Philip, Rudolpho, ❤️ Keith❤️ and all the students who become champions for Skylar. The last school dance was such a special and beautiful moment, it was impossible not to fall in love with those kids!

I loved that Skylar's in love with many artists from Motown and in book 3.5, his reactions to the Christmas gift Keith gave him was perfection! Just loved it!

My favorites moment and or quotes:

"You're the blondest, palest, black woman I've ever seen." 😜

"If I get killed, my mother will never forgive me." Book 3

"Creepy scooby doo care keeper." Book 2

💖 "By your talent for decorative arrangements, you might just be a homosexual." 💖 Book 3.5

another cute book; another FANTASTIC vocal perform

I was a bit gushy in my last review about the vocal performer but he might have been even better in this book. There is only 1 other vocal performer that has made me want to listen to a book instead of reading it...he's just that good. He has the perfect voices for each character and you absolutely feel like you're part of the story with the characters because of him.

This story is another cute installment of this series. Keith made me a little angry toward the end but he fixed it. Skyler is as adorable as ever. There was a huge 'aw' moment at the school. Everyone was here again...with a little bit of a predictable twist on a couple of the characters. I cannot wait to read/listen to more!

Okay I Relent...

This third installment was just wonderful. After I sem-panned the narration of Joel Leslie in my review of the second Skyler Foxe Mysteries novel, I relent and say that his performance in this third installment is just wonderful. I hear myself even now, some weeks after listening to 'Out-Foxed' saying 'Skylerrr' in my head using Joel Leslie's Rodolfo voice! It's hilarious.

Out-Foxed does not disappoint on the story side either. It is full of mystery and suspense whilst also being jam packed with humor. In this novel we get to know Skyler's mother a little better and come to see that she is as passionate and caring as Skyler. The only part of the novel I didn't like is when Keith was recalled because the situation had become 'too dangerous'. It didn't really gel with me that he would abandon Skyler that way and leave him in the peril that clearly he was in. Especially when it seemed that his superiors didn't prevent him coming back and clearing everything up with Skyler in the end anyway. The rest of the story was awesome.

I am now looking forward to the novelette based around the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations and hope Audible will have the next full novel 'Foxe Fire' ready for download very soon.

Great book series!

I can't wait for the next book! I love books that makes one laugh, cry, think... And those steamy romance scenes... Work and the subway rides can be a bit - interesting. LOL!

Fantastic and fun trilogy climax

Where does Out-Foxed rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I loved it - I really enjoy this series... Walsh is a delightful writer with a wonderful sense of humor. I've grown very fond of Joel Leslie's performance's - he totally embodies all of the crazy friends with such zest and comedic energy.

What other book might you compare Out-Foxed to and why?

I've heard people describe these books as kind of gay Scooby Doo series. It totally has that a fun campy vibe but there is also a whole lot of heart and some really tender moments. Walsh creates characters that make you laugh but also get you really choked up as well... This book sometimes takes a slightly more serious tone at times (probably because it's the completion of an entire story arc) - but I loved it and I'm itching to read book 4.

Which character – as performed by Joel Leslie – was your favorite?

Rodolofo - he cracks me up. Leslie's dialect and delivery are priceless.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I find that there is always one point in these books that has me getting teary - and I can never predict which set of characters will cause it. I think that's a testament to how much the reader becomes invested in the cast that Walsh has created through this series.

Any additional comments?

Keep writing more!

The conclusion of the first arc of mysteries

Where does Out-Foxed rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This whole series is now up there in my top 10 series of all time

What about Joel Leslie’s performance did you like?

Joel is so fantastic and the material is so great that he just breaths life into these characters

Who was the most memorable character of Out-Foxed and why?

Skyler, as always. But all of them, really. Jaimie, Philip, Rudolpho, Sidney, Keith and even Skyler's mother, along with Skyler's students.

Any additional comments?

This series gets better and better!

Wonderful!

Oh man, I am just loving this series. I love the SFC, Sidney and of course Skyler and Keith. This was a great adventure and even though Skyler remains TSTL, at least he knows it! This was a heart stopping conclusion to the mystery at James Polk High and now I can't wait to see what happens at Thanksgiving.

Joel Leslie's narration just gets better and better. Every single character has a distinctive voice. I know I would not enjoy these books nearly as much if I was reading instead of listening.

Skyler jumps the shark

I loved the previous two books so much that I couldn't wait for my next credit and bought this one. Unfortunately, it seems that Walsh has jumped the shark with this one. It really is well beyond my powers of suspension of disbelief. The author's note at the end suggests that she fears that this might be the readers' response to the criminal activity around which the mystery is based, and assures us that this was in fact based on a real case at his son's high school. Unfortunately, that was not the cause of my own reaction. Instead it is that the actions of Foxe in this one are completely implausible, and often contradictory. It feels like the writing (and plotting) was rushed and that the author may have been completing contractual obligations rather than fulfilling a passion. All of the characters have become caricatures, and all but the MCs are one dimensional. It's a shame because the previous books were great fun. But in this one they are so irritating and the plot so stupid that there is little fun to be had.

There is a lot more graphic sex in this book, but I didn't find it a turn on at all. In fact I tended to find that my mind had wandered and missed the end of sex scene and the beginning of the next and had to rewind to tune back in to the story.

The narration, which I found a tad irritating in the previous books, is really annoying in this one, perhaps because he is trying to inject some more life into the cardboard cut outs. But his range of voices and accents is very limited and it sometimes difficult to work out which character is speaking. The students have three voices: a Californian sort of Valley accent, a la Adore Delano, for the boys and basically no change from the narrator's voice for the girls. Except for Rick who gets a weird attempt at a Hispanic accent. The SFC members all have the same distinctive, though inappropriate, voices as before. At least it is clear which character is which, but all of their voices are annoying and exaggerated, which perhaps contributes to the impression that the are cardboard cut outs. The gruff lower registered voice of Keith seems to have leaked into some of the other voices as well as the descriptive narration in this one too. There are also errors and very noticeable edits in this recording too, though not nearly as many as seems to be the norm in Dreamspinner productions, for example. But again this contributes to the sense that this was rushed and unloved.

All in all it was pretty disappointing, but partly because my expectations were so high, and it is still much better than many of the audiobooks published in the MM genre. Hopefully the future books will be a return to form. There is one more available already, but I doubt I will be buying it as I can't take any more of the narration.

Entertaining, dramatic and slightly OTT

Any additional comments?

3.5 Stars

One of the things that has made listening to these stories, even at their most maddening (Really, Skyler? Jumping into danger AGAIN?) has been Joel Leslie's thoroughly entertaining, dramatic and slightly OTT (in all the best ways) narration. Leslie captures each of the character's unique "voice" and personality and splashes it all over for us to enjoy.

In the final installment of the original mystery trilogy we find Skyler distraught at being outed by Keith at the end of Foxe Hunt (with good reason). Whereas the outing seemed unintentional and romantic at first blush it turns out Keith had ulterior motives for doing it (without once considering the consequences for Skyler). So now, Skyler finds himself in hot water with irate parents and there are protestors at the school, and there's even an emergency school board meeting called to discuss the possible ramifications of Keith and Skyler's actions! It's a mess.

Then there's the murder of one of James Polk's teachers, and Skyler feels compelled once again to stick his nose where it doesn't belong and investigate. Even though he's been told not to. By everyone.

As if all that wasn't enough, two of Skyler's favorite students, Rick and Alex, are having major problems: Rick's been pulled out of JPH and sent to a Catholic School, leaving his boyfriend, Alex, to spiral out of control, getting into fights and skipping class.

This storyline led to my biggest problem with the story, to be honest. Skyler's seeming disregard to the reality of how bad his situation actually is, on a lot of fronts, but mainly his job as a teacher. His job is being threatened and an emergency School Board meetings has been called, but he's leaving students in charge of class and running all over the campus investigating the murder or running after Alex? Are you kidding me?! Every time it happened I cringed and yelled.

Of course, Skyler bumbles his way to finding clues the police and FBI miss, and helps to solve the case in the end with almost dire consequences! Which made me happy. Though it's the end of the trilogy...which makes me sad. But, wait! There's more hijinks with the S.F.C. and even more TSTL live moments to come for Skyler? Yay!

Note: This is not a standalone story - you must read books 1 and 2 before starting this!