cozy mystery

enjoyable low angst mystery with a hint of romance, great for listening to whilst pottering around the house

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Great start!

Get ready for a new murder mystery by Josh Lanyon. It’s got this cozy-mystery vibe to it that I loved, you know the small-town setting where everyone knows everyone and is up in everyone’s business. The gossiping old ladies, the almost mandatory bookstore owner turned amateur sleuth. This book has it all.

Ellery Page recently inherited a bookshop from his late aunt, and in need of a change I his life he moves to Pirate’s Cove located on a small island off the coast of Rhode Island. The mansion he also inherited needs a bit, or a lot, of work and his aunt seemed to be a bit of a collector – of everything. Getting both the mansion and the bookshop back in good order requires a lot of will and determination not to say countless of hours of hard work. But Ellery wants to make it work in this quaint town and refuses any offer to sell. But when said prospect buyer is found dead in his store he encounters more problems than he knows how to handle. However the police chief Jack Carson is most intriguing and Ellery can’t help but to be drawn to the man.

As stated in the blurb of the book, there is no sex near it. It’s a mystery through and through with the, very, occasional romantic interlude and only minor at that. So if you are looking for romance, declarations of love, the longing gazes and whatnot, this might not be the book for you. It might happen someway down the line, but we are not there just yet. I kind of like that. I’m a huge fan of mysteries of all kinds and don’t need an abundance of romance in my books, it does add favour to it, but this book stands great on its own without it. As for the mystery itself I do think it was a good one. I did figure it out pretty quickly but I still loved watching our main characters trying to make all the pieces fit together. And spending time in Pirate’s Cove was a lot of fun, the murders might or might not be included in that statement.

Matt Haynes was a great performer for this book. I think he captured the feel of this eccentric town obsessed with anything pirate related. I think he really captured both Ellery and Jack really well and his voices for them made it easy to keep track and follow the dialogues. Production-wise it felt like there was a harshness to the production of it. It was most noticeable in the beginning of the listen as you got used to the sound after a few minutes. It wasn’t the narration itself, because it was great and I’d love to listen to more of Hayne’s in the future and hopefully also go back to Pirate’s Cove.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.

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1 person found this helpful

How is this even MM when there was no romance?

I was seriously disappointed with this book, not only did it start in exactly the same way as Lanyon's magic series, it took ages to warm to the characters. The unoriginal story arc meant mystery wasn't a mystery, and zero romance made this book the aural equivalent of 'watching paint dry'. I would say I expected better from this author, but from her most recent output, I don't. Lanyon has lost her edge.

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