A Breath of Life cover art

A Breath of Life

Shadowy Solutions, Book 4

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

A Breath of Life

By: Nicky James
Narrated by: Nick J. Russo
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £16.05

Buy Now for £16.05

About this listen

What would you do for love?

On a balmy September evening, Tallus and Diem discover a man who has been attacked in an alley. Saving his life seems like the right thing to do. With his dying breath, the man thrusts an item upon the couple and makes one request. Get rid of it.

The mysterious object proves to be valuable, and Tallus doesn’t want to part with it. Keeping it makes Diem uncomfortable in a way he can’t explain. Tempers flare, but before they can come to an agreement, everything unravels.

The item is more dangerous than either of them realized.

Lies and secrets threaten to tear the couple apart as Diem is drawn into something dark and menacing. Keeping his hotheaded boyfriend safe proves to be almost impossible, but Diem’s been given a task, and he will not fail. If he does, he will lose everything.

©2025 Nicky James (P)2025 Nicky James Literature & Fiction Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Exciting

Continue the series
Penny for Your Thoughts cover art
Penny for Your Thoughts By: Nicky James
All stars
Most relevant

Listener received this title free

nick j russo brought a breath of life narration absolutely beautifully i felt every moving moment and intense moments and so many feels

I love when we get nicky james beautiful emotional written words alongside nick j russo's narration it just perfect

beautiful story and incredible narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I started this not sure I was in the mood, then five minutes through I was grinning and happily back in Nicky James' world. These characters are fabulous, flawed and brattish who make such a wonderfully imperfect pair. Really fun and the narration is so expertly done. Who needs dual narration with a voice actor that good? This is better as he does the other characters dialogue perfectly.

Nick j Russo is one class act- a great listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Listener received this title free

A Breath of Life picks up a few months after Reading Between the Lines ended, and it finds Tallus and Diem (and Diem’s new service dog, Echo) living together and Tallus now working part-time for Shadowy Solutions. Their relationship is on an upward trajectory, too, with Diem slowly working through his issues surrounding intimacy and trust and learning to communicate better.

They’re on the way home from picking up dinner one evening when Echo alerts them to an injured man lying in an alley in a pool of blood – he’s been beaten and stabbed. Tallus calls 911 and while they’re waiting for help to arrive, the man, who is in a pretty bad way, urgently insists that Diem find something in his pocket, and once he’s found it (a small leather pouch) tells him to “Throw… away… Bad.” Diem doesn’t understand and tries to replace the item, but the man is desperate, and before Diem can do or say anything else, the police and EMTs arrive.

Back home, they open the pouch to find it contains a beautifully crafted playing card, the Ace of Spades, made out of what appears to be precious metals and gemstones. It’s unique and highly valuable - but quickly turns out to be very bad news, driving a wedge between Diem and Tallus, who have different ideas about what to do with it, and propelling them them into the murky world of organised crime where everything has its price and nothing – except life – is cheap.

Nicky James has once again crafted an utterly compelling story filled with nail-biting tension and high-stakes action and drama in which the romance and suspense are perfectly intertwined. The plot is, as always, clever and well constructed with lots of twists and turns along the way, and the character work is absolutely superb. Under immense pressure, Diem starts to spiral quickly and his constant worry and overwhelming rage sometimes impair his judgment and get in the way of his making any real progress with his task – which (in a neat bit of role reversal) gives Tallus the chance to use that keen intelligence of his to solve the mystery and work out how to save the day.

Nick J. Russo is one of my favourite narrators so I'm always happy to experience Nicky James' books in audio as well as in print. He's one of the very best m/m romance narrators around and is always well worth listening to, but I have to say, he's outdone himself here. The story is incredibly tense; the emotions and stakes are very high and he's spot on every time - Tallus' fake outrage at the beginning is really funny (funnier than it was when I read it!); he builds Tallus' increasing annoyance with Diem's high-handedness so well; the vulnerability and emotion bleeding through Diem's voice in so many places - especially the quiet terror in his voice when he believes Tallus is lost to him - is so brilliantly realised as to be completely heartbreaking. It's an incredible performance all round.

(PS - his English accent is so much better than the last time I heard it! (Australian... not so much!))

Suspenseful, romantic and utterly compelling

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is the 4th in series. Have listened to everyone and enjoyed them all. Love the narration. can't wait for the next edition.

engaged from beginning to end

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Listener received this title free

Tallus and Diem's latest case made my heart race in ways I didn't think it was capable of! What started as a rescue in an alley turned into a much more sinister coercion by an underground organization to find a missing person. This time around, the investigation felt far grittier and more desperate, probably because of the very real threat hanging over Diem and Tallus's heads if they decided not to comply. The lies and secrets took a big toll on Tallus and Diem's relationship, and it made my heart ache to see how strained things were between them as the case stirred up bad memories and brought new fears to life. Diem in particular went through the wringer in this one, both physically and emotionally, and even after all the progress he's made in prior books I was still really worried about his well-being. Tallus refused to be left in the dark, even when all Diem wanted was to protect his boyfriend and keep him safe, and that resulted in even more stress and arguments. I was really feeling the tension ramp up as these two started putting the clues together, and despite how hard they were working just a single misstep was capable of sending them spiraling into the enemy's hands. As stressed and anxious as I was, I also have to admit that I got a thrill out of seeing Tallus spearhead a rescue for once with the help of Kitty and Costa. I can't say that theirs was the most well thought out plan, but it certainly was effective in getting Tallus and Diem what they needed to get their enemies off their backs once and for all. I thought the relief of watching the dust settle was going to be the high my favorite PI couple left off on, but Diem had one last romantic gesture in mind to convey to Tallus how deep his feelings ran. I'm loving the very different energy this series has from the rest of what Nicky James has written, and I'll eagerly devour as many additional books as she wants to write for these two!

A heart-racing case for Tallus and Diem

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews