Review: Murder at Pirate's Cove by Josh Lanyon
A sleepy little seaside town. A hot police chief. And… murder? What else could you ask for in a M/M cozy murder mystery?
Smuttiness: 0/5
Writing: 3.5/5
Story: 3.5/5
Overall Rating: 3.5
Would I recommend it? Meh, yeah. If someone was after a low-stakes read that contains zero smut but has a semi-interesting story to follow.
Josh Lanyon’s (Author) Description:
Ellery Page, aspiring screenwriter, Scrabble champion and guy-with-worst-luck-in-the-world-when-it-comes-to-dating, is ready to make a change. So when he learns he’s inherited both a failing bookstore and a falling-down mansion in the quaint seaside village of Pirate’s Cove on Buck Island, Rhode Island, it’s full steam ahead!
Sure enough, the village is charming, its residents amusingly eccentric, and widowed police chief Jack Carson is decidedly yummy (though probably as straight as he is stern). However, the bookstore is failing, the mansion is falling down, and there’s that little drawback of finding rival bookseller–and head of the unwelcoming-committee–Trevor Maples dead during the annual Buccaneer Days celebration.
Still, it could be worse. And once Police Chief Carson learns Trevor was killed with the cutlass hanging over the door of Ellery’s bookstore, it is.
My Review:
I love a good murder mystery, and I was really excited to find a MM one (those are a little bit harder to come by). This book drew you in right off the bat- the body being revealed in the first few pages then jumping you back to the few hours leading up to the murder. The setting was charming, the murder was clever, but the characters were… a little one note- but not in a bad way.
I think Ellery was written well and I found myself rooting for him as he ran around the island trying to clear his name- his funny one-liners and his internal monologue really spoke to me at times. I’m not sure if it’s just because my last few murder mystery reads have been the Thursday Murder Club series where you are so drawn in by the depth of the side characters as well as the main cast. But I tend to expect a bit more depth when it comes to the side characters in a good mystery. I will say though, the lack of depth made it really hard to chase leads in my mind for who I thought was the killer which was probably the idea. I was pleasantly surprised by the killer reveal- I did not have a solid idea until the last few chapters when it started to click and even then, part of me was like: “nah, no way”. Also, the plausibility of the murder made me appreciate the writing. I’m not going to spoil it for you!
The sexual chemistry was vague, but it was kind of there. If you are looking to read about a hot romp or two then this is not the read for you. Think mild yearning mixed with a VERY slow burn… connection? I would not call it a relationship- even in the end you are kind of left wondering if anything is actually going to happen between the Police Chief and Ellery which was a bit of a bummer for me. Plus, we did not read a single instance of hot hot shirtless Police Chief Jack Carson and I felt a little robbed. Was it promised to us in the Authors description? No. But was I being delusional for expecting it? Absolutely yes.
With murder mysteries you always expect a modicum of goofiness, it just comes with the genre. But luckily the tone here actually flowed really well. I mean the murder weapon in the town of Pirate’s Cove being a cutlass on the night when everyone gets drunk while dressed like pirates to party about town is just the right amount of on-the-nose-ness that makes you laugh (or exhale gently through your nose while grinning) without outright rolling your eyes.
I mildly suggest this read if you are looking for a low stakes, non-traumatic mystery with zero spice that keeps you guessing but doesn’t stress you out to the point where you have to keep reading until it’s 3am and you still have not come any closer to who the murderer is. It’s a quick read and it’s lighthearted enough to make it a fair "before bed read". I will be continuing with the next titles. I was surprised to learn that there are another seven books in this series. I knew it was book one but like... how many murders can really happen in a small seaside town? The answer is at least eight, apparently.