Review - The Last Nights of the Frangipani Hotel by Bey Deckard

Actor James Talbot is enjoying his vacation at a run-down hotel on a Caribbean island. The resort may have been grand at one time, but the years have taken their toll. Few people stay there these days, especially in the off-season, and that suits James just fine. His solitude is interrupted by the arrival of a guest who takes the cabin right next to James. The guest turns out to be another actor, Rudie, whom James has worked with in the past. James thinks of himself as straight, but he is irresistibly drawn to the younger man. When the two get drunk one night and end up in bed, James tries to pass it off as a drunken mistake, but Rudie seems determined to get James to see the truth about himself.

“The Last Nights of The Frangipani Hotel” is a short novella that covers just a few days in the lives of two men who meet unexpectedly and find they have a connection. There aren’t any other significant characters aside from the two men, and they spend most of the time in their isolated little section of the resort.

As in The Complications of T, one of the characters is a man who has always denied his attraction to men. James married a woman and had children, but is getting divorced. Rudie seems to be the first man to challenge the excuses James has made for his feelings.

“The Last Nights of the Frangipani Hotel” is available from Smashwords or Amazon (commissionable link).