Death at the Deep Dive (Secrets and Scrabble #7)

Title: Death at the Deep Dive (Secrets and Scrabble series #7)

Author: Josh Lanyon

Publisher: JustJoshin Publications

Release Date: August 14, 2022

Genre(s): Cozy M/M Mystery

Page Count: 199

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

This latest installment in the Secrets and Scrabble series is one of my series favorites. In Ellery's brief time in Pirate Cove, he's built up the Crow's Nest bookstore with the able help of his assistant manager / sleuth Nora Sweeney, is restoring his ramshackle Victorian gothic mansion, gotten the pretty much perfectly dreamy boyfriend - Police Chief Jack Carson - and has been involved in far, far too many murders. 

Buck Island's history is a rich melange of pirating and sunken treasure, with the Shandy family featuring prominently. Vernon Shandy has been missing for almost 60 years, and with Ellery's discovery of a sack of Spanish coins, it appears that Vernon did find the famed Blood Red Rose treasure. Ellery believes that Vernon was murdered and Vernon's sister Vera tasks him with solving the murder, offering up a list of suspects, including Ellery's great aunt Eudora. 

Ellery's great aunt Eudora Page has always been in the background of the series, mostly as the vehicle to bring Ellery to the island by willing him the bookstore and mansion, the Captain's Seat. But here we finally get to meet Eudora - as an young attractive woman in 1963. We've grown to love the village of Pirate's Cove and Bucks Island and its residents and in solving the mystery, we poignantly learn Eudora's dreams and her sadness. 

And in the end, the perfectly dreamy Jack Carson comes through with a perfectly romantic scene, and I am left to look forward to the (final?) installment in the series where we meet Jack's parents?? Learn if Ellery returns to acting to finance restoring the Captain's Seat? See if Jack finally learns to cook?? 4.5 stars. 

I received an ARC from the author, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Body at Buccaneer's Bay (Secrets and Scrabble #5)

Title: Body at Buccaneer's Bay (Secrets and Scrabble #5)

Author: Josh Lanyon

Publisher: Just Joshin Publishing

Release Date: December 18, 2021

Genre(s): M/M Cozy Mystery

Page Count: 223

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

While diving an old shipwreck, Ellery and Jack find a dead body - hardly a surprise anymore due to Ellery's proclivity for murder and mayhem on Buck Island - however, this one is in an old-fashioned diving suit and there are no outstanding missing person reports. And all this in the midst of Buck Island's annual Race Week.

And yet all this faded into the background for me personally as I was enthralled by Jack finally meeting Ellery's parents, a resolution of sorts in the feud between Nora and Kingston Peabody at the Crow's Nest bookstore, Jack meeting one of his exes, Watson's continuing doggy antics, and most importantly the comfortable domesticity between Jack and Ellery: 

"Hey, I've been thinking about what you were saying last night," Ellery leaned against the counter, watching Jack pour coffee into two mugs.

Jack threw him a quick look.

"Er, not that," Ellery said hastily, "Although, yes, that. For sure." 

Jack bit back a smile. Then his brows rose and he held up Ellery's I woke up like this Disney Princess mug.

And not to mention, the news that Christopher Holmes (from Lanyon's excellent Holmes & Moriarity series) will be coming to the Crow's Nest for a book tour.  Or as Nora and Ellery discuss (excerpts from their conversation):

"Christopher Holmes." 

"Never heard of him."

"He wants to come here? Won't any other bookstores let him sign?"

Nora didn't bother denying it was an odd choice.

"He must be crazy."

"Probably."

"Well, I mean, if he wants to come, okay," Ellery said reluctantly.

Nora murmured, "I'll let them know how thrilled we are."

In the midst of all this, I must admit the murder mystery plot had a lot of competition! This is such an enjoyable series that I anxiously await the next two books (slated for publication in 2022)  in the series.  Keep 'em coming!

I received an ARC from the author, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Scandal at the Salty Dog (Secrets and Scrabble #4)

Title: Scandal at the Salty Dog (Secrets and Scrabble #4) 

Author: Josh Lanyon 

Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing 

Release Date: May 31, 2021 

Genre(s): M/M Cozy Mystery 

Page Count: 196 

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

Lanyon's Secrets and Scrabble series continues to be utterly charming, fortified with murder, mystery .... and pirates.  It's pretty much the ideal trifecta, in my opinion.  

This book gives us a little bit of this, a dab of that, and it feels like catching up on old friends. There's the very attractive Dr. Mane at the Med Center, Nora and the Silver Sleuths are afoot, Ellery is reluctantly looking for a new employee at the Crow's Nest and then there's Jack ...

The thought of Jack made Ellery smile, but the thing between them still felt so new, so fragile, he didn't want to ... handle it too much. Didn't want to overthink it. but so far so good. In fact, so much better than he had even hoped.

And it turns out Buck Island has another secret - pirate tunnels! - and these tunnels, a holdover from pirate days and a handy place for stowing illegal loot, play a part in the mystery of how food is disappearing from the Salty Dog kitchen. In addition, elderly recluse Juliet Blackwell claims to see the ghost of legendary pirate Rufus Blackwell, and Ellery wonders if the "ghost" is using the pirate tunnels.  

Yes, Ellery is once again reluctantly involved in solving mysteries, and while I didn't personally find this murder mystery gripping, I'm looking forward to getting to know Ellery's new employee, wonder what Nora will next find to investigate, hope Dr. Mane doesn't get in the way of Jack and Ellery's budding relationship, and can't wait for their next adventure.  4 stars. 

I received an ARC from the author, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Mystery at the Masquerade (Secrets and Scrabble #3)

Title: Mystery at the Masquerade (Secrets and Scrabble #3)

Author: Josh Lanyon

Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing

Release Date: February 28, 2021

Genre(s): M/M Cozy Mystery

Page Count: 219

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 

Read book blurb here

This third installment in John Lanyon's new cozy mystery series was unexpectedly published in early 2021, ahead of schedule, and it is a welcome ray of sunshine (and murder).  

Ellery and Jack, Buck Island's gorgeous police chief, are still friends .... just friends, no benefits. They share an easy casual friendship involving sanding, sawing and plenty of other home repairs at Ellery's decaying Dutch Renaissance style mansion, but anything beyond that involves the two men warily circling around any sort of actual involvement. 

But an unexpected invitation to the annual Marauder's Masquerade at Bloodworth Manor puts Ellery in the middle of a murder in a mausoleum, with plenty of suspects and intrigue. Of course, Nora finds the murder a bit too convoluted. 

"A hard shove down the stairs, a balcony railing giving way," Nora was saying dreamily. "That how you do it."

"Sometimes you scare me," Ellery remarked.

Don't get me wrong - like Nora, I simply adore a good old-fashioned murder mystery, and while the mystery here is interesting, well-written and completely gripping, I think I actually squealed in delight at the very G-rated, yet nicely steamy debut of some perhaps more-than-friendly benefits between Ellery and Jack.  4 stars for "Mystery at the Masquerade."

I received an ARC from the author, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Secret at Skull House (Secrets and Scrabble #2)

Title: Secret at Skull House
Author: Josh Lanyon
Publisher: JustJoshin Publications
Release Date: April 28, 2020
Genre(s): M/M Cozy Mystery
Page Count: 208
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

This second book in Josh Lanyon's M/M cozy mystery series is a delight. While the first book understandably spent a lot of time introducing the town of Pirate's Cove and its quirky murderous townsfolk, this book focuses more on the slow-burn relationship between Ellery Page and Police Chief Jack Carson.

For a "no sex, no gore" genre, Lanyon manages to pack in a lot of sexual tension and possibilities, as well as one of Ellery's ex-boyfriends, Brandon Abbott who buys Skull House, and promptly ends up murdered. Brandon is a strange character and not particularly fleshed-out, but he serves as a good device to uncover a set of unsolved murders from twenty years ago that may be linked to Brandon's murder.

Maybe it's me, but the murder mystery didn't particularly grab me, but I will definitely look forward to the next book in the series, if only to find out what's going on with Jack and Ellery. 4 stars.

I received an ARC from the author, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Murder at Pirate's Cove (Secrets and Scrabble #1)

Title: Murder at Pirate's Cove (Secrets and Scrabble #1)
Author: Josh Lanyon
Publisher: JustJoshin Publications
Release Date: February 29, 2020
Genre(s): Cozy M/M Mystery
Page Count: 206
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Read book blurb here

Charming. That's the word that keeps popping to mind in reading this first book in Josh Lanyon's new cozy mystery series. We meet Ellery Page, brought to a small seaside town due to an unexpected inheritance he received from his great-great-great aunt Eudora. He's now the opener of a dilipated house and bookstore, the Crow's Nest, in Pirate's Cove, Rhode Island.

When a body is found in the Crow's Nest, Ellery is understandably horrified to learn he is Police Chief Jack Carson's prime suspect.  This is a cozy mystery - so by definition there is no gore and no sex - but Lanyon gives us a wonderfully tantalizing character in Police Chief Jack Carson:

 "a ruggedly handsome six foot, one hundred and ninety-plus pounds of gainfully employed eligible male ... [Ellery] had been pretty sure Carson had a secret that would deeply disappoint the ladies of Pirate's Cove." 

We are introduced to the community and its residents on the way to solving the crimes, along with some well-crafted red herrings, and I did not figure out the murderer until near the end, so it definitely held my interest.  Ellery is an interesting character and I relish learning more about him and also really like how Lanyon teases the possibility of a romance between Jack Carson and Ellery.

I am definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Secret at Skull House, due at the end of March.  4.5 stars.

I received an ARC from the author, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.