All Comments on 'A Study in Scarlet Ch. 01'

This reads well, but the confusion with the names of the principals led to total misunderstanding on my part. One minute Esther, then she's Irene. Then Renee appears and SHE is Irene!!!! I can't keep up!!!

Get the names right.

Not a bad start BUT try to straighten out the names. Most people just answer to one name not two or three.

This is an intriguing well written story... so far its one of Blue's best.... but there is a HUGE problem here...

Let me see if I have this right...

Before these two were married...when they were engaged... during the time in a relationship in the where two people are suppose to be lovey dovey and have the hots for each other... attend a New years party sponsered by her work.... JOHN cannot find his soon to be wife at a new years party....

when he does she is face fucking some other guy at the stroke of Midnight.... when John breaks it up the other guy starts a fight... and she slaps JOHN her hsuband to be in front of EVERYONE...

and John decides to marry this cunt? what on earth for?

you see this story fails b/c JOHN is given NO motivation about why he decides to forgive her.

Does she give great sex? great BJ/s? does she have fantastic tits? is her fasmily fabulously wealthy?

WHAT?

what is it about her that is SOOOOOO complelling that a street smart guy like John would risk a marriage after that awful Humiliation?

anyone? anyone at all with an answer? Bueller? Bueller?

Irene, Esther, Jim, John?

I won't dwell since others have already covered that.

I feel you have a great flow to your story and write well. But I feel you may not have put 100% in it given the name screw-ups. I have a feeling the next chapter will be very predictable. Your talents are evident in your writing. Don't short sell yourself.

Blue, liked the time that you are taking to develop the characters. This is shaping up to be an interesting tale of missed communication and assumptions. Can't wait to see where you take it.

The confusion between Irene/Esther almost seemed to be like you shifted the names while writing the story. It was a little distracting, but not too bad.

Looking forward to the next chapter.

Very tricky--Nathaniel Hawthorne (Esther/Hester Prynne) meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Moriarty, Irene Adler, Dr. Watson, Lestrade, etc.). An ambitious undertaking indeed . . .

It was a tad confusing. It seemed like either the characters had the same name, or they each had several. (I did that a time or two!) The plot is shaping up well and your writing is excellent. I'll be reading every chapter. Thanks for writng this for us!

I've read tons of stories on this site, but I've never seen such a confusion of names, with characters repeatedly changing names within the same paragraph. Please fix and resubmit immediately. And next time please get a proofreader. Use Literotica's volunteer editor feature - there are lots of talented people just waiting to help.

since we've been able to enjoy a new Blue88 story. Yes, I had some issue with the names too but it's shaping up to be another great story otherwise.

please forgive the asshole who wants you to rewrite your story.how many stories have they wrote with no errors.again thank you for your stories.the story is long winded and the lawyer is a dumby,but i enjoy your stories.

Obviously, you were having so much fun with the story in your own mind that you kinda lost track of the names. Oh well. I survived it without too much mental anguish. But, I'm glad you enjoyed it. That's good. That means more good stuff for us. I'm eagerly awaiting it.

Thanks for writing again.

Phil

Well written and interesting,look foward to the rest.Thanks.

Another great story by master story teller Blue88. You can almost cut the tension with a knife. It's such a pleasure to see a plot developing with some character definition instead of the"wham, bam, Thank you maam" stories that seem to be the norm lately. Keep on writing Blue88.

60 year old George

Good start except for the egregious blunders mixing up Esther and Irene.

The little mixup between Esther and Irene wasn't real bad. The author was either trying to sneak Irene's name, Like perhaps she is some real image that he uses in his mind. But when Renee became Irene also, it was hard to keep up with what Irene he was dealing with at what time...Sorry..Don't smoke weed while trying to write a story. It's only for reading them.

Great job so far, I look frwd to the next chapters. Personally I like Serena.

I won't mention the name thing - as a fellow writer I feel nothing but empathy!

I thought your story was great - well written and quite readable. You've done a great job of bringing out the feelings. I look forward to reading the rest of the story!

Regards, Jack

Soon after the Dr. Watson character appeared I began anticipating the arrival of S. Holmes, a recent emigrant from London, to see what he could add to the fine stew being created by Blue88. Alas, we have yet to greet Mr. Holmes but there are many pages to go before we have to give up on him.

I am enjoying the name game immensely. Thanks for writing.

Blue,

You write one hell of a story! This will be interesting and might get ugly. Can't wait to see where you go with it.

WOW a great story but I'm

left hanging..this part I hate. Hope it all turns out well. so publish the next part soon. thanks for great writing and story theme.

Because this was nearly impossible to follow given that Esther, Emily, Irene kept interchanging names.

you can't be bothered to get the characters names right then I can't be bothered to read any more of this.Really am disapointed with you.

Let's see..."Esther," "John/Jon's" wife becomes "Irene"; then "Irene," a fellow teacher becomes "Renee." And just who the hell is "Serena"? You refer to her as "John/Jon" enters the diner to meet with "Lee LeStrade." Have you considered issuing numbers to these folks?

Forgive me, 'Blue.' I have truly enjoyed the stories you have posted. These mistakes are thoroughly out of character for you. You are simply too accomplished a writer. The occasions I most encounter this kind of repeated mistake is when someone is transcribing something not original to him/her. I hope this isn't the case.

Philip

Blue, You have an excellent beginning which i trust will be a joy to read. You known how to put the situation between husband and wife right on the edge. The problem is with Esther but then, noe, it's equally with John, etc..... A start to another "best" for "Loving Wives."

RAG

Too bad you can't get the names correct in your story,Jumping around with names is very distracting

Anonymous in Norcal's comment made me wonder if the name screw-up's were somehow intentional. I know that sounds weird but Blue's a good author and maybe there's a pattern to the glitches since the story has overtones of a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

If there's a pattern, I can't detect it. Anyone else see one? Or have I gone bonkers? ;)

Blue, have you been drinking and writing again? Trying to follow your story line sure was a challenge, what with your seemingly intensional interruptions with the flow....

Interesting beginning.

Boyd

Esther, Irene, Renee, Jon, Serena, Art/Doyle ??????????????

In writing, names are supposed to function as identifiers! They don't work as such if you keep shuffling them around, sometimes in the same paragraph.

-- KVK

There are three main problems in the first chapter:

1. Name confusion. The duplications of names are confusing and distracting. I wonder what happened.

2. Over - telling (as opposed to showing), or over generalizations. Too much is given in a summary form. I understand that you were trying to cover a lot of ground, but the format of big blocks of summary is not too interesting. I would look for ways to weave more information about the past into the present as the plot develops. I would also weave more information about the past into dialogs.

3. Predictability. Many scenes are very predictable. For example: The party drunken sequence ;The post fight sequence (I will break down this sequence, but it could be done for each of the others too: brief disappearance-not responding to messages- brief pressure from authority figure – brief apology and back to plus minus normal relations); the seduction at work which overrides husband discontent sequence.

Of the three, the predictability is the more serious problem for me, as I believe that stories should be as compelling as possible.

regardless of my peception of any problem I appreciat your efforts in submitting the story.

Irene Adler, (the famous adventuress?) Inspector LeStrade, Dr. John Watson, James Moriarty (The Napoleon of Crime!), Sherlock, A C Doyle, Jon, Tim Murphy, Serena, Esther Prynne, all names mentioned by our friend Blue88. Could Jon and John be the same? That would mean Blue made an error and he has been very precise in this story. Irene and Esther are not interchanged. They are two distinct characters. (Holmes, not our friend Blue88, suffered from cocaine addiction.) Blue has hatched a sinister plot to pull in the reader. What of the title, "A Study in Scarlet" and the teaser, "perception can be stronger than reality"? Did Holmes deduct who the father of Esther's baby was? Literotica is going to hell with all these references to actual literary characters!

This is the first story of Blue's that I have read. I found it very interesting and some what intriguing being a Sherlock Holmes fan.

Esther's actions at the New Year's Eve party should have been enough to pin the scarlet letter on her, much less signify the end of the engagement/relationship. Sir Doyle is a busybody: Does he stick his nose in all his attorneys' personal lives? His role in the story is obvious--to reconcile John and Esther, thereby setting the stage for the later marital adultery. John should never have married her, but that wouldn't have been much of a "Loving Wives" story.

I am eager to see how John's gangster past comes into play henceforth. His sterility was only briefly mentioned. I wonder if that will bear any significance.

so far its ok and a great start to a Blue 88 story but the name confusion is a hassle. Its clear why this happened.... the author was too busy trying to do a variant on the classic Conan Doyle story.

its nice twist but doing so may have caused the author to get some names wrong

also... while Harry is again coarse - as usual-- again (for the 2nd time this month) I think he has a valid point.

If we get away from the Holmes thing this story does have a Hole in it...

why would he decide to go ahead and marry her after his humilation? the author is kind of weak on WHY he decides to take her back after a few days then marry her.

Very compelling. I just hope like hell he doesn't take her back (again) after she fucks Moriarity.

Until I read your story, I didn't think it possible to fuck up a story in the manner that you did.

This will come as a news flash to you, but some writers actually edit their story before publishing it.

Take my advise and do not continue the story.

It looks like Esther/Irene is definitely going to wind up in bed with Moriarity. How long will it take John to discover it or will she just demand a divorce? After the divorce will he take up with Renee/Irene? It's quite possible that Renee/Irene has a small crush on John, anyway. Will Stan throw Jim back to the boonies when all comes out? Of course, THIS time it will all be too late.

Well, John only has the wedding ring to stomp on if he never repurchased an engagement ring. Twenty years is sure a long time for her to throw away for a fuck or two. But maybe she intends to continue the coming affair and Jim won't be as enthused about that, I don't believe. I think it's obvious Jim just wants to cuckold John, not get deeply involved with Esther/Irene. She could easily bust Jim's balls, too. What about Lee? What will be his role further into the stroy? He MIGHT help prevent the infidelity. He could join Jim and Esther/Irene on the trip.

I look for Blue to lead us through the maze.

I don't know the Conan-Doyle story, but I would have enjoyed this more if you hadn't messed up the names. At one point, I had to go back to the beginning because I thought I'd missed something. Then, I was wondering if Irene/Esther was a multiple personality!

It's a real shame that you've let yourself down in this way, and I do hope you'll re-submit a corrected version of this before you go on to submit the next part. Otherwise, the confusion is likely to taint the whole story!

... take a beta reader to eliminate the mistakes namely the confusion of names.

I've read the second part too, and the same mistakes continue.

But the story is still interesting.

Nucleus

Blue, you are a damn good writer, much better than evidenced in this story. The multiple names for the wife: Esther, Irene and the close femal colleage: Irene or Renee, was very, very distracting.

This error permeates the entire first chapter. I've never read a story so fouled up by this type of mistake. I would recommend that you download OpenOffice (www.openoffice.org)

and use it as your word processor. It's free and and totally compatible with MS Word.

Once you have it installed, then learn the global search/replace function. I understand how names can get screwed up in a story since sometimes they are the last elements of the story to be decided upon, as is the title. However, this error is so repetitve in your story that it overwhelms the plot.

now blue, do you really think es would have brought up the trip befare giving a bj to hubby?

Moriarty would not be interested in some woman in her 40s when he could attract women in their low to middle thirties.

I thought Moriarty's current motive was for revenge for humiliation and career derailment years ago. At least that's what I got from his internal comments in the office.

What did I miss that you picked up on?

should think a bit more.

Thanks for a great build-up, Blue

There is never a justification for actions "because she wasn't responsible for her actions , since she was drunk." Understand that the Japanese have legal protection if they do something stupid while drunk. The deserve what they get from that idea. Same for using a legal firm as basis for cheating story.

Will always be a cheating cunt

I agree that the name errors were distracting, but this story is incredibly compelling and the characters are deep & intriguing. Nice job.

or lack of communcation as need to know, TK U MLJ LV NV

Good story.

Character names are from a somewhat different era.

Reassignment of names is disconcerning.

From the sounds of it, she will soon be bedded by Jim. This is brilliant. Love the story line. Excellent writing. Five stars.

You need to get an editor or proof read your work before you submit it. How come in 1 paragraph of only 5 sentences Esther suddenly becomes Irene. This lackadaisical approach seems quite common with your stories. It seems you more interested in finishing than checking the quality. Not a real biggie but, for me it's why you never seem to reach the higher standards of the best authors. 3***

I found myself lucky, in retrospect. I was in love, deeply in love with the woman I planned to wed, have children and grow old with. Then one day out of no where, she told me we needed time apart. WHAT? Our wedding was in less than 3 months. I asked her if the wedding was off and she seemed surprised and said NO! I didn't like it but I wasn't going to throw the baby out with the bathwater and told her alright, we'd take some time apart. She lived with me about 80% of the time and the other 20% was at her folks place.

Well, she basically moved home again, telling her folks were needed to be apart in the last few months and they bought it, as much as I did. I threw myself into work and as a dump truck driver I could get all the overtime I wanted and did, working up to 60 hours per week. The extra I cashed and save at home, or our rental, as it was. Unfortunately, It didn't take long for stories to start coming back to me. It seemed as though Tom, my fiancé's long time boyfriend had moved back to town. They broke up after 2 years together when he cheated on her, broke his promise and cheated again and that time broke up with her and moved away to California. And *I* had hoped, never to be seen again. If there was one thing that bothered me about her, it was that she never really seemed to be completely over Tom, he was the one who popped her cherry and she mentioned once you never really get over that person.

The story on the street was that Tom had moved back to town and that my fiancé had been seen with him numerous times. More than once in a hot liplock. That's all I needed to know, I'd have been unhappy if she had even seen him, livid if she'd seen him on purpose more than a few times, and a kiss? That was enough to call it off. And a major league liplock like I'd been hearing about, well, there would be nothing to talk about. I took a few day off, from a Friday afternoon to Monday evening. I started out by borrowing a friends car with darkly tinted windows and when she left her folks place, I was well behind her. I followed as she went through traffic and watched with my heart sinking as she pulled into the house of Tom's Aunt's place, where he had grown up and my wife actually lost her cherry one Saturday afternoon.

The door opened not more than a few minutes after she went in and I immediately felt better until she walked out with her arm in his. He led her out to the same 1966 Camaro that she fucked him in when they were together and I followed them to a restaurant and where I sat outside, I could see their window table inside. I knew it was over when they kissed numerous times over dinner. When they left I followed them back to his place.

In the back yard there is a walled off area on two sides that has a hot tub and a BBQ area. I watched as they went in and it was getting pretty dark so I was able to see they went out the back door after a little while. I waited for a bit and then left my car and walked where I could see in and there they were, my fiancé was in a teeny tiny bikini I'd never seen. About the time I saw them, Tom sat back on a lawn chair and my wife straddled his leg. He reached down and put his hands inside her bikini top and held each tit in each hand and they began to kiss. I could tell when he took ahold of her nipples and began to twist, she started grinding her cunt on his hairy leg, trying to get herself off. She'd done it more than once to me, urging me on to twist her nipples hard.

My fiancé happened to finally look up just after she had her orgasm. By that time I was about 6' away, leaning on the edge of the fence. She shrieked and then jumped back away from Tom. I walked up to her, without saying anything, making a sound or even looking at Tom and held my hand out. She stood there and wailed, Tom had stood up and backed away, but I just stood there with my hand out. It could only mean one thing and she knew it instantly. She started moaning "no, no, no, no...." but I kept my hand out. Bawling her eyes out she slowly slid her engagement ring off but refused to hand it to me. I took a step forward and put my hand out further and finally, she laid it in my hand. Before I could turn and leave she tried to throw herself onto me and hold me back, but I held out one hand and she almost bounced off. When I walked past Tom he was scared and he had every right to be. He'd seen me in action when we were growing up together more than once. This time though, I held my temper and instead, drew my index finger across my throat as I stared at him. He got the idea.

My truck was backed into the garage which was attached to the house. My fiancé came tearing in and almost hit the house after sliding from the driveway into the lawn. The doors were locked but she had a key. I was ready for her if she actually did something like this. When she was fumbling with her key at the door, I jerked it open, jerked the keys from her hand and slammed the door. She stood there and screamed at me, begging and crying, while I took both the front and back doors keys off her keyring. Then I opened the door, thrust her key ring into her hands and closed and locked it. Then I went back to work. How long she stood there and screamed at me I'm not sure, but at some point I realized I had almost loaded everything into my truck that was mine. And I didn't even have to go outside to do it.

By the time morning came, I was already moved into a buddies house. He was single and needed someone to share the rent, his own wife had run off and took his kids with her and he needed help with the bills. We worked together so it was perfect. I was able to leave my truck in his garage which was detached and just rode back and forth to work with him, not that it was very far, about 20 minutes away. My cellphone of course, rang off the hook. First my ex-fiancé, then her friends, then my friends and finally my sister and parents. I didn't answer it until it was my sister and then when she put me on speakerphone I explained it to everyone and that it was off. They were sad too but what was, was.

I had pulled my dump truck into a local store to pick up fuel a few days later. We usually fuel up at the shop but I'd been trying to get a couple extra loads in so I needed enough to get me back to the shop. That's when Diane, my ex's best friend caught me. Apparently Diane knew the whole story, probably more than me, about what went on with my ex and Tom. Diane begged me to talk to my ex, saying she was devastated by our break-up. Of course, I was speechless and asked her if they had any idea how devastated I was while I watched her do everything but have penetrative sex? Diane was contrite but she did her best to be diplomatic. I had to leave and asked her one last question. Were my ex and Tom actually having sex? I didn't need to hear her say the words, the look on her face was enough. She just kind of looked down and away, dipped her chin a bit and shrugged her shoulders. I jumped in my truck and went back to the shop.

I didn't show my face around town after that day, in late August. Bill, my buddy I roomed with did all our shopping and I split fuel costs with him back and forth to work. Friends that wanted to see me finally found out where I was living and would come over and more than once we had some pretty good party's. If there was one good thing, it was that Bill had a small weight room in his basement and I was able to get back into powerlifting in a big way. In HS before real life hit me, I was competitive and this gave me a chance to get back after it. By January I was thinking of entering a powerlifting competition.

We found one in February. Bill decided to enter too and on the big day, we got up early and drove the 3 hours to the big city where it was held. I'm not a giant but I'm not one of the little guys either. Also, in the shape I was in, I was lean enough 'almost', to enter a bodybuilding comp! I'd never been so strong AND lean. At 5'11" and 235lbs, I had a 34" waist and 52" chest with 18" upper arms. Even I had to admit I looked pretty good!

A couple things happened at that meet. The most important thing was I met a girl I already 'kind' of knew, she was my ex's cousin. I knew she looked good with lots of clothes on but in a wrestling singlet she looked incredible! 5'0" and 95lbs, she placed first in her division with a 295lb squat, 145lb bench, and a 335lb deadlift! The whole time with me cheering her on. Bill did pretty well for a newbie, at 6'2" and 180lbs he finished 2nd and trophied, but there were only two in his division! Boy did he give me a hard time about that. His totals were 315lb squat, 265lb bench and a 455lb deadlift!

I didn't finish in the metals. My division, the 242's were toughest that day and there were some really strong guys. I finished 4th out of 9 lifters with a 505lb squat, 410lb bench press and a 555lb deadlift. That gave me a total of 1470lbs. First place totaled almost 1800 and third place was 1485lbs, putting me 15lbs away! Even so, I was pretty excited. So was Lisa who insisted Bill and I have dinner at her house, where she lived with her folks, my ex's aunt and uncle.

Long story short, they all knew the wedding was off but no why. I didn't hold back but wasn't nasty either. We all hit it off very well and by the time we left, we all planned to stay in contact. I really REALLY enjoyed Lisa who as her mother said, needed to find a man! That embarrassed her but she admitted her mom was right. Over the next few months, the three of us entered two more contests, one of which I took third in, Bill didn't but improved his numbers, while Lisa took first in those two too. My own total went from 1470 to 1510.

By summer Bill found a woman, a coworker of Lisa's who both worked as law office clerks. It had become so serious they both transferred to my own town and moved in. Sonya is very nice but it soon became apparent we all needed our own places. Lisa and I moved out since Bill owned his place, finding a place out of town that needed fixing up. It was pretty cheap, during the bust of 2009-2015 and we got a 2 bedroom, 1 and 3/4" bath 1100 square foot home sitting on 14 acres to only $32,500! The house needed real TLC and before we moved out of Bill's we repaired, nearly rebuilt, the entire home. New roof, new insulation, sheetrock, paint, electrical, appliances and paint on the outside made it look and feel as new. Tiny yes, but OURS and paid for with cash! A small 2 car garage was also painted the same as the house. It had room enough for Lisa's Jeep and my F250 diesel and not much else!

I asked Lisa to marry me, scared to death. She immediately squealed and said yes! I was for as big a wedding as she wanted but she talked me into having her Dad marry us, he was a minister, at a tiny ceremony and we'd have a big reception later. Her parents agreed and with only her parents, my immediate family and Bill and Sonya. We set the date for our reception to be later on in the summer, our plan was to get the grounds around our home looking very nice and manicured and have it there. One thing I found shocking was when Lisa came to our bed on our wedding night. She was a virgin! A real live 21 year old virgin! She took to sex like a duck to water and after the initial session which went very quickly, I popped it and then popped myself in about 2 minutes, sex became better and better. She was unable to do it for the next week, which hurt too, but then was ready a few days later for the 3rd time and because of work, our fourth time was a week after that and was BEAUTIFUL! She had no pain after that and boy did I enjoy that tight pussy. My ex had banged Tom for so long by the time I got to her she was slick with juice but never very tight and its certainly not like I'm small!

We rarely left home and when anyone did, it was usually Lisa getting groceries or whatever else we needed. She actually ran into my ex, her cousin, at the store one day and after my ex expressed her surprise that Lisa had moved nearby, mentioned they needed to get together. Lisa, being a bit of a dickens, never mentioned she'd married me but did mention she had recently married and the reception would be at her home. My ex fiancé was happy for her but had to tell Lisa her own story and how she'd messed up. It turned out, my finger across my throat was all it took and Tom moved back to California a few days later, although my ex said she wasn't going to have anything to do with him anyway, it had ruined her life. She was still in love with her ex (me) but that she had been unable to contact me to say how sorry she was and no one would tell her where I lived. She went on to tell Lisa to never mess it up, never take her husbands love for granted like she did.

We had our reception and it was fantastic. Our place looked like a showcased home, with helps from friends and a few horticulturists. There were almost 150 guests that showed up for a huge BBQ and we waited for them to be seated before we came out. It was a hot August day and we both had on shorts and a blouse for Lisa and a muscle-shirt for me. When we came out her father introduced us and Mr and Mrs ____ and there was applause all around. Until someone hollered and we all saw where my ex had fainted dead away!

When it was all over, my shocked ex and I sat to the side and had our conversation. She apologized and told me she didn't know what she was thinking, except that when she married me it was forever and perhaps she just wanted to sow her last oats? She really didn't have a good answer. I accepted her tearful apology and she told me I was the best thing that ever happened to her and she was so sorry and wished she could go back in time and do things different. I agreed. One nice thing she said was how Lisa and I both looked like a couple bodybuilders when we stepped out! She left soon after and was crying when she left, needing the help of her folks to get home.

Lisa and I have two boys now, 18 months and 5 years. She is back in lifting shape and just took first place again in her division, even with both our kids there! Where she had lifted at 95lbs before and 'ballooned' up to 120 during both pregnancies, she was back to a svelt 102lbs, putting on the nicest 7 pounds you ever did see! At least half of it was on her small A cups, making them a large A or small B! I just love those perky little things with nipples the size of my thumbs..... ;)

it's a good story, and I believe it happens more than most others. married but working separately. anyone can see the possibilities there, on both sides of the fence.

Still love it. Still five stars. Still a favorite. If it had been me, I would not have taken her back. She was clearly attracted to the guy well before getting blitzed (she referred to him as a hunk earlier in the evening), went way beyond simply kissing (they were mauling each other), and then she stands up for the guy by slapping her husband. The thing about being drunk is that it generally doesn't make you do things that you would never do, it lowers your inhibitions to do the things that under normal circumstances you refrain from doing. This is a very engaging storyline.

Nah, this is my first time reading this. Well, this is okay, at least not as poisonous as other LW stories are, where hate and anger and revenge permeates the whole tale.

To beamer: man, stop using the same comments for every story you comment on. It's getting annoying reading your comments and it's the same thing.

This is sinister and engaging.

I'm hooked, next chapter please

A very compelling storyline.

2 people supposedly on the same page, but are not. Nice

Your skills have matured over the two years since "Planned Seduction."

Good start. On to Ch. 2.

Going on to chapter two. This might be a good one.

Why would you go back to a woman such as this fiancée? Anything now is his own fault. Fool me once and all that.

He sits down with a heart to heart after her kissing someone else and doesn't clarify what "excessive drinking" means? He also apologizes for something he believes he did not overreact to. Not a great way to start a relationship--cheating, lack of clarity in communication and dishonesty.

He deserves everything.

Why would he tamp down his agitation and fury? He just found out that his wife has been lying to him about another man. One that has already caused a problem in their relationship.

It is an almost constant, and disappointing theme with LW stories. It's a crutch device a show poor imagination and writing skills. So many of the "relationships" have little emotional depth, and little attention to each other, this one especially.

Serves him right for taking her back the first time.

I think I see a homicide investigation coming up in the next chapter. Question is, who does he kill? Him, her, or both? Time will tell, I guess. Interesting story so far.

After reading the first page, i see a study in RaaC. Its pathetic how the author is trying to make this guy a macho cuck. Lets look at her actions, she gets silly on wine, makes out with a guy thats been chasing her, on new years, in front of her boyfriend. Boy friend get upset, interupts the kiss, and gets pushed by guy, he responds and gets slapped by the slut. He gets railroaded into a RaaC. 20 years later its happening again, wonder how its going to end.

Sometimes makes no sense

Put facts in story and then ignore them

Again 3 stars same

Reading again. Don't remember this one, but it has an interesting start.

But what kind of law firm takes this guy back after the new years eve thing AND has him working with Watson's wife ? His friend at the firm surely should have prevented it or forewarned him. Holmes coming soon ?

Great story so far. Bad news is obviously on the horizon. I've met bastards like Moriarty. This type of scum does inhabit the Earth and too many women, especially married ones, gravitate toward bad boys.

Really good. Enough background and emotion to set the stage. One of the best I've read here.

detroitdave

He was a special kind of good writer.

John should NEVER taken Esther back after the New Years fiasco!!

It's a real shame this author hasn't published anything for years. This story with the homage to Sherlock Holmes is great so far.

"John, you know me: I'm great big A.C. Doyle. Now, I've done a complete investigation and Esther is blameless. I've arranged for you to meet with you tonight so that she can forgive you for interrupting their kiss. Moriarity has been reassigned out of town. In a couple of months, we will bring him back and those two can pick up where they left off. Then she can become a full-fledged company whore with all the perks. How does that sound, dumbass?"

LWlurker

Just picked up on the early statement of J not being able to trust E to safeguard HIS honor and dignity. J is the keeper of his honor and his dignity. An important point.

And the lousy LW cliche of having the precious man refuse to talk to the woman. Are any of the male principal characters in LW strong enough to talk to a woman when they are not trying to screw her?

When is "just kissing, no sex" grounds for a breakup? Right here on New Years Eve, that's when. No way I would reconcile and neither should John, but still such a great story that I must keep reading.

@norcal62: We live in Healdsburg, are you still living in Nor Cal?

She got some serious explaining to do now. Blue can definitely write.

I appreciate sly references to other authors and works, but this tale takes it over the top. Aside from that, the writing is very good, and the story is interesting. 4 stars. Probably 5 without the intrusive references.

After the first confrontation he should have charged both Moriarty and Esther with assault. He definitely shouldn’t have taken her back or married her.

As for Esther’s thoughts on flirting, why do women think that is okay?!? They know better and are just lying to themselves, right?

Flirting is signaling a romantic or sexual interest. If you’re in a relationship and you’re flirting with someone else, you’re by definition, cheating!!!

ZK

His face still stung, at least in his imagination, from her slap. He also knew that he missed her terribly and he wondered if perhaps he was making too much of what probably was just a drunken incident, although deep down he had doubts

I copies this from the first chapter. Why O WHY did you Insert something so insane as this? Did you expect us think, " Oh yeah, that's perfectly normal. I'd feel that way to!"

Please think on thus. She gets digustingly drunk and recurrently disrespect her fiance of just two week. She's nearly fucking the Man, in the crown, with thought of her fiance. HE Decks the jerk that committed assault and battery on him and SHE Slaps him in defense of the guy she was cheating with. Finally, ANY SANE man knows that she could be counter on to cheat on him at will. GURANTEED.

So, given those facts why did you put that piece in?

Would you have given her the benefit of the doubt? If you would I truly feel sorry for loss self-worth and self-respect.

This type of writing insult your readers and demand your writing which is, I believe, rather good.

To Norcal regarding

"nd the lousy LW cliche of having the precious man refuse to talk to the woman".

Why have any conversation with her? If you walk away, then walk away...here for a solid reason. There is nothing she can say or do either excuse or mitigate what she's done.

Is this kind of woman you'd tolerate as a wife of GF?

Also, if you look up the definition/reason why woman flirt you'll find they're looking for something in a man that THEIR man is lacking. Flirting is not innocent. It's intentionally and goal directed.

They are both insane! Definition of that?

Repeatedly beating your head against wall and expecting a different result.

Obviously there relationship will implode and both will abdichten their responsibility to place all the blame on tje other. To oft told tale here.

The start of the author's best series. Hands down.

He should have ran after the first incident. It is obvious she is not relationship material.

"Without another word, he turned and left."

That's halfway through page one and a prefectly good ending to this story.

He needed, needs now, to get into counseling. He is equally at cause by investing to much time at work and she doing the same at her job. The essential truth is that Lawyer hours are often 18 hrs a day with weekend snags not that uncommon. There are only so many hours in a day and you can't be in two places at the same time to deal with important tasks.

Esther's time consumption will not improve over time and he is equally unwilling to be time flexible in his. The trouble with this is he is home, most always, before she is. She's tired and just wants a respite from everyone wanting her time. That she lumps her husband into that mire is a sure fire way to non-verbally give him the message, however unintentionally, that "your an annoyance. Just leave me in peace. That she irrationally expects him to "understand", like forever, self-delusion. This is just type of death spiral one could expect with this scenario. That Es is toying with the idea of an affair with Her colleague is the road to certain death of the marriage. When she's caught she'll have little insight as to responsibility in the disaster. Moreover she's already nailed several nails in the coffin by hiding that Jim is back. How she figured she could keep that hidden baffles me. She'll be another divorced 40 yo female attorney that is married to her job.

It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds.

Anonymous 4 months ago hit the nail on the head with his statement which I quote here.

"Also, if you look up the definition/reason why woman flirt you'll find they're looking for something in a man that THEIR man is lacking. Flirting is not innocent. It's intentionally and goal directed."

This is the foundational reason to confront your wife/gf with this behavior. If she can't see it urge counseling. If she refuses and keeps it up...well, just see the handwriting on the wall and walk. And DON'T LOOK BACK!

It took me a lot of years to learn this lesson but once I did I avoided a lot of heart ache. In fact I'd tell the woman that as far as I'm concerned flirting is the prelude to infidelity and if noted by me, and my concerns about that are brushed by her, I'm gone. No conversation. No second chances. Nada. I just leave. For a lot of women flirting is considered to be OK...unless they see their man doing it. Flirting is a subtle, often very subtle, entry to the road to cheating. It's dishonest and cruel. So, who wants a woman like that???

A quick summary of Part 1:

1. Girl proves herself not to be marriage material.

2. Man suspends all logical thinking and marries girl who has shown she isn't marriage material.

3. Man begins to get what he justly deserves for marrying girl who isn't marriage material.

The premise for this series is ridiculous. No sane man would marry a slut after she slapped him for interrupting her foreplay with a coworker. Like all engaged persons, she voluntarily accepted limits on her behavior when she accepted the engagement ring. He accepted parallel limits when he placed the ring on her finger. She failed one of the precise tests that engagement is intended to provide. Marriage is thus canceled - full stop and end of story.

It's a good story so far. However, you can always tell a man's quality when he needs someone else to change a flat tyre.