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Murder at Pirate's Cove
Murder at Pirate's Cove: An M/M Cozy Mystery: Secrets and Scrabble Book 1 | Josh Lanyon
9 posts | 10 read | 10 to read
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, 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.
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review
Robotswithpersonality
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Panpan

I dunno....that was kind of...bad? Maybe unoriginal is a better word. At 2.5x speed on audio, it was palatable; I'm pretty sure I would have skimmed parts if I was reading physically. I did love the idea of a slow burn romance, the introduction of puppy, of little old lady who knows her mysteries, of the potential of fixing up an old property and getting more involved with the community, 1/4

Robotswithpersonality 2/4 even a main character who's bad at life-preserving decisions and at lying. 🤦🏼‍♂️ There's actually the possibility that if I treat this whole book as a prologue, I could like the next in the series a lot more. There are a fair amount of easy shortcut stereotypes/two dimensional/brief descriptions in the characters introduced, 7mo
Robotswithpersonality 3/4 but if I think of it as a Harlequin romance with a mystery twist, it's not any worse than a lot of books I read in my late teens/early twenties. For those who, like me, find it kind of shady, heads up that this M/M romance is not own voices rep as it is written by a woman under a pen name. 🙄 7mo
Robotswithpersonality 4/4 Not to disparage some truly wonderful writing I have encountered in that space, but finding out the author previously wrote fanfic, is not surprising. If you're looking for a few hours of brain off diversion, you might enjoy it. 7mo
rwmg Yeah, I've always found her books to be rather bland but OK for when I want something where no brain power is needed. I wasn't particularly surprised when I found out that she is a woman but I did not like the fact that quite apart from the male pen-name, she had actively tried to deny she was a woman and pass herself off as a gay man. 7mo
Robotswithpersonality @rwmg Yikes! The back story emerges and it is icky! 7mo
8 likes5 comments
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rwmg
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Mehso-so

Ellery Page inherits a struggling bookshop and decrepit house from his great-great-great aunt in a seaside town in Rhode Island. He needs to clear his name when a business rival who wanted to buy him out is found dead in the bookshop.

Rather bland. The first two books in the series were freebies so I will read the second, but I wouldn't go so far as to pay out good money to continue.

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rwmg
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The damp night air was bracingly cold and, as always, suffused with the distinct ocean smell.

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@ShyBookOwl
#FirstLineFridays

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PuddleJumper
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this as a cosy mystery. It was romance light which I appreciate and there was a decent amount of description which made me feel like I was learning about the characters and location as the mc did.

There were a few editorial issues in terms of typos and grammatical mistakes which were a bit annoying, overall it was a fun read.

DieAReader 🥳🥳🥳 2y
Andrew65 This looks and sounds good 🎄🎄🎄 2y
BookmarkTavern Such an intriguing cover! 2y
40 likes1 stack add4 comments
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KathyWheeler
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Pickpick

I really liked this. I will have to say it‘s one of the cleanest books I‘ve ever read though. No bad language, no sex scenes — nothing but light flirting — and no graphically described violence. Ellery, our mc, who inherits a bookstore and a house from a great great aunt he‘s never met, is a fun character. I‘ll read more books in this series.

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KathyWheeler
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I can be oblivious. This is referred to as an M/M cozy. I thought “murder/mystery,” “murder/mayhem?” It finally occurred to me that it refers to the potential romance in the book, which is male/male. 🤦🏻‍♀️. If it was a romance, I would have understood, but I wasn‘t expecting that label in a cozy. So far, it‘s been fun. Our mc, Ellery, inherits a mystery bookstore in a small Rhode Island seaside town and becomes a murder suspect. #audiowalk

Suet624 This post made me chuckle. I never would have thought that either. 2y
KathyWheeler @Suet624 Glad I made you chuckle. I really can be seriously oblivious at times. When I figured it out, I just laughed. 😄 2y
29 likes2 comments
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Kenyazero
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Pickpick

I don't know what regular Cozy readers will think, but I enjoyed it. It seemed to have all the required elements of the genre: a small town (bonus points for seasonal tourist town), amature sleuthing (including questionably legal shenanigans), a smoking hot love interest (bonus points for describing the color of his eyes a lot), a puppy, weird inheritance, a recovering broken heart, an old book store, and a gossipy older woman. #LGBTQ #Mystery

Kenyazero I don't know if having bad cover design is another checkbox for Cozies 😏 2y
StaceGhost @Kenyazero hahaha! It definitely should be imho 2y
18 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

Shortly after a tough breakup with his boyfriend, Ellery learns he has inherited a bookstore and house in #RhodeIsland. He‘s wondering how to keep the store afloat and noticing how cute the police chief is when suddenly a body turns up in his store. This is a cute, fun cozy that I enjoyed a lot. I definitely didn‘t guess what the outcome would be. I would for sure read more from this author.

DivineDiana Sounds like a fun read! 🙂 3y
34 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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Skygoddess1
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Pickpick

This was June‘s Barnes and Noble serial read. I really enjoyed this small town M/M murder mystery. The first in the Secrets and Scrabble series, I loved Ellery and his perseverance in trying to make the bookstore he inherited profitable. Pirate‘s Cove sounds like a quirky little town with a fun group of people, dressing as pirate‘s and having a pirate celebration. I will definitely continue the series. #BookspinBingo

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 3y
10 likes1 comment