The first in Josh Lanyon’s new cozy mystery “Secrets and Scrabble” series, MURDER AT PIRATE’S COVE centered on Ellery Page, a New York transplant to Pirate’s Cove (or PICO) a small coastal town in Rhode Island who’s trying to start afresh after inheriting a house and a mystery bookstore in (said) town. It’s interesting premises especially as our MC found himself in the middle of murders investigation and thought himself public enemy number one.

Sole POV in a story can be tricky, especially in a (murder) mystery when the lead character - for want of a better word - floundered with the situation he found himself in (an outsider, he knew no one and no one knew him well enough, while needing to prove his innocence of the homicide). In true Lanyon fashion, Ellery (and the rest of supporting characters) managed to keep my attention to the story with witty repartee and the MC’s inner dialogue. The mystery itself was entertaining enough. Still, Ellery being green in everything mystery made the flow of the story a bit lethargic for me. Yes, this reader got to guess along the way of whodunnit and being proven right or wrong of said guesses. Sole POV made a substantial hole in the fabric of the story though, given details only coming one-sided or told after. Personally, this muddled my reading enjoyment a bit.

On the romantic portion, I’m torn between cheering for the budding romance between Ellery and a certain police chief and miffed with the way it progressed. While I’m all for slow burn, the sudden spurred-up at crowning moment of the story felt off to me. I guess it’s the case of reading between the line, but I thought there ought to be gradual transition more than shown here. I do hope the next installment would hit me better than this one.


Copy of this book is kindly given by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Delivers exactly what it promises, a perfect cozy mystery!

This is actually my favorite Josh Lanyon book so far. I was hooked immediately by the quaint setting full of quirky (but not too quirky and clichéd) characters that I can't wait to see more of. The romance between Ellery and Jack is subtle and sweet, and I loved that Ellery gets the time to move on from the relationship that caused him to move to the small village and didn't just jump into bed with the first guy he met. The mystery was also well done and tightly plotted.

There was never a boring moment, and I immensely enjoyed this first book in a new series.

I wanna move to Pirate's Cove. Simply for the delight of meeting Ellery. What a lovely name. It just rolls right off the tongue. Ellery... Elle.. Er... Rrrry...

My god Josh Lanyon is back! Well, she never left but she has stopped rushing endings. I still haven't forgiven (Ok, I totally have) the news clipping resolution in Slay Ride. But what a delight this book is! A piping hot cup of comfort tea... A warm hug from a teddy bear... A kiss on the forehead... I am such a pile of goo. Yes from a murder mystery where 2.5 people died.

Ellery Page moves to Pirate Cove after inheriting a book store and a cool castle from a great great great great aunt Eudora. An old eccentric he didn't even know existed until the opportune time. After his ex cheats on him, and his acting career fades like my attention when I see a kitten he decides to take on the timely escape provided by great great great aunt Eudoras.

Things aren't smooth sailing. The house is in need of endless repairs and the bookshop is in the red. I actually don't really get what that is but I know it's commerce speak for the business is broke?? (I got a D in econ). Ellery is facing pressure from a mayoral election candidate local wannabe Drumpf but he won't sell. He won't give up his new reason to live so easily. And soon enough, after he finds a dead body in the bookshop, he can't sell anyway.

Ellery is thrust into a world of intrigue, mayhem and amateur investigations when he finds out that "Murder seems like something that happens to other people" is a belief best left to people who don't find dead bodies in their shops.

This book is so charming. I was getting my hair done as I was reading it and Lanyon's witticisms gave me such a severe case of the smiles my hairdresser had to wonder whether she wasn't yanking my scalp hard enough (trust me, box braids are a pain). But I was in no pain. How could I when the endorphins were being released by such lines:

The pup yawned in his ear and tucked his head more comfortably beneath Ellery's chin. "Isn't he adorable?" the mayor said in the polite tone of a cat person.

I'm displeased that the sequel will take so long to come (It's coming in March) and as we all know, Lanyon's series always leave you panting and pining for more. This book is very formulaic of a Lanyon book. It is also a very subliminal ad for Lanyon's other books. I can't tell whether it was so genius it was unwittingly deliberate but I don't care. This book reminded me of Adrien, perhaps because of how aggressively lovable Ellery is.

Ugh, just read the book.

A fast pasted cozy mystery comes about when Ellery moves from New York to the small town of Pirate's Cove where he inherited an old mansion and a book store from his great great great aunt. When real estate mogul Trevor is found killed in Ellery's book store he is the prime suspect of Chief of Police Jack Carson - and, slayed by the local news paper, of the whole town.
What else is left for Ellery to do but investigate himself to proof his innocence, much to the chagrin of the police chief.
This small town murder mystery was a delightful read with just a hint of romance thrown in. While categorized as M/M book, there really was not much intimate interaction - as in none, actually. Ellery wasn't even sure if Jack was romantically interested in other men.
I enjoyed the book for the very likeable, humble and even tempered Ellery and interesting supporting characters.
Highly recommended for an easy, feel-good read.

I think this is an excellent cozy mystery with all my favorite tropes of a cozy: a bookstore, small town and a pet (a puppy in this case) and an old lady that helps the MC.
We are used to cozy mystery featuring a female MC but I must say that Ellery is a likeable, interesting and funny character, well thought and somewhat clumsy.
I love him as much as I loved the fleshed out and likeable cast of characters.
The mystery is solid, full of twists and turns, and the solution came as a surprise.
After reading this story and loving it i already preordered the next instalment.
It was an engrossing and fun read, I read in two setting and found it very enjoyable.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

A quaint seaside town with picturesque streets, adorably-named shops, and pirate-themed celebrations…Pirate’s Cove is practically made for a postcard. It’s exactly the kind of change New York screenwriter Ellery Page needs. Well, it was until a dead body shows up in his newly-inherited bookstore. Ellery is having a hard enough time saving the failing bookstore and trying to keep the crumbling mansion he’s also inherited from falling down around his ears, so being accused of murder is almost enough to make him want to run screaming back to the city. If he wants to make a go of it in Pirate’s Cove, Ellery will need to think like the detectives in the books he sells and – much to the consternation of handsome the police chief Jack Carson – discover who is trying to frame him before time runs out.

Murder at Pirate’s Cove is a delightful cozy mystery with interesting characters and a quirky town I can’t wait come back to. I admit, cozy mysteries aren’t my usual fare but I love Josh Lanyon’s writing so of course I wanted to give this a try. I’m so glad I did, for this book was a fast-paced, fun, and completely addictive.

Ellery isn’t a detective – heck, he doesn’t even read mysteries – but when someone’s trying to frame you for murder, you (at least in fiction) put on your deerstalker cap and get to work. Ellery has a bright, engaging personality that drew me in even when he’s at his most exhausted and frustrated. He’s also readers’ entree into the world of Pirate’s Cove with its cleverly named stores and gossipy residents. I enjoyed the bits of Pirate’s Cove that were introduced in this story and I cannot wait to learn more as the Secrets and Scrabble series goes on. The most intriguing character in Pirate’s Cove is its police chief, Jack Carson. We only get a taste of the real man behind the badge in this story, but oh, what a deliciously intriguing taste it is. There’s no romance in Murder at Pirate’s Cove, but the energy fairly crackles between Ellery and Jack and I can’t wait for the promise of what’s to come.

The question of who murdered the rather unlikable Trevor Maples is at the center of the story and the mystery itself is wholly engaging. I loved watching Ellery put everything together and Ms. Lanyon keeps the twists coming while still making it believable. Since this is a cozy mystery there is no on-page violence or sex, but even to a non-cozy reader like myself the book isn’t missing anything from the lack of it. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Murder at Pirate’s Cove and I cannot wait to learn more about Ellery, Jack, and the residents of Pirate’s Cove!

Murder at Pirate's Cove is the first book in a new cozy mystery series by Josh Lanyon. Released 29th Feb 2020, it's 206 pages and is available in ebook format. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a formulaic but really fun and enjoyable cozy. Handsome newcomer Ellery has inherited a mystery bookstore and white elephant of a house which is falling down around his ears. He's single with a bad breakup behind him and just trying to keep the floundering bookshop afloat and make a new start in the tourist town of Pirate's Cove. The last thing he needs is a dead body in his place of business, or a potential entanglement with the town's handsome lawman.

The deceased was unloved by basically everyone and there are tons of secrets and hidden motives.

All the violence is off-scene, the language is clean (a few damns, nothing worse), the romance is slow burn and chaste. The denouement was fair-play (though I had figured it out a while before), and the whole combines into a fast and fun read. I'm looking forward to finding out what comes next.

Four stars. Recommended for fans of bookstore cozy mysteries.

What a cute start! Very light on the romance, but I’m beginning to notice that Lanyon uses the first book more as an introduction. However, it wasn’t lacking without it! I really enjoyed Ellery and the town of Pirates Cove. There’s a great cast of different characters each with a unique and interesting voice. The mystery was well done too, and I only figured it out right as Ellery did. I’m looking forward to more in the series!

4* Classy, intelligent and unassuming. Shades of Miss Marple make for a great read on a rainy day in London.

This tale needed no major intro, though the leads and the location were unknown to me; it was really quick and easy to get into, and part of that, I think, was anticipation of a new release from this author. It seems to be the first in a series of low-key but intelligent and well-done mysteries featuring Ellery Page (lol, the name Queen kept popping into my head), forced bookshop owner and forced owner of a decrepit mansion in Pirates Cove, and the chief of police, Jack Carson, who may or may not be married and who may or may not be bi.

Strangely for me, I went into this tale not particularly bothered about how full-on any romance might be, as Josh Lanyon's MO of delivering a decent tale first and foremost, with romance as an added bonus, works for me. I knew there would be a relationship of sorts building here, and its pace and what it entailed or not and where it ended up or not, took a back seat to the actual storyline. I know I'm going to enjoy seeing these leads build whatever it is they end up building.

The book, for me, had a feel of Miss Marple and a perfect English village, though the tale was set in a small town (do they actually have villages in the US?) in Rhode Island. Everything about the tale was quaint and understated, even down to the murders, and it was that air of the understated that added interest and made me desperate enough to get to the end of this book that I ended up reading it on my phone on the treadmill, without managing to fall off, rather than take a break. There was at times a feel of deja vu and there were a few skips in the leads' relationship that, at 92% of the tale gone, made me go back and check if I'd inadvertently skipped some of the tale (I think we're meant to read a little between the lines), which it turns out I hadn't. Maybe heated glances, knowing looks and what's left unsaid, speak volumes that my impatient eyes and brain didn't quite pick up on (which is totally on me).

There are a bunch of decent characters in it, whom I'd like to know more about: Dylan, perhaps the first friend that Ellery, the newcomer to PICO, made, and who may have a skeleton or few in his closet (or might that be closets?); Jack Carter and his tragic past that's been hinted at; Nora, Ellery's new employee and local gossip monger (in a sweet little-old-lady package) who's promised to turn over a new leaf; and the rest of the locals who hopefully will learn to like Ellery, rather than cross the street to avoid him and his bad karma.

I thought that Ellery was a less uptight lead of Josh Lanyon's, one without too much baggage and one with a better ability to trust and to open himself up, which made for a nice change and a more relaxed feel to this tale. I loved the scenes with him and little Watson (a Josh Lanyon pun, I wonder?) and can't wait to see what they get up to together. I wouldn't change much of the tale, other than maybe not having characters in such a small pond with similar sounding names or names starting with the same letter (e.g. Nora and her niece, Nan; Carter and Carson) as this makes for slight WTF moments when my brain transposes things and I have to backtrack and make sure I've read correctly. Other than that, this was a read that ticked all my boxes, and I enjoyed this low-key, not overly/not unnecessarily complicated tale and am very glad that book 2 is only a month away!

ARC courtesy of JustJoshin Publishing Inc and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.