This is a new to me series. It was a quick, light read.
I enjoyed the interesting characters and it was a good whodunit.
I look forward to reading more books in the series.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

3 stars

A cute cozy mystery with a cute puppy sidekick and lots of casserole.

[What I liked:]

•Watson the puppy :) too cute, too cute

•There is a great cast of side characters, including nosy Nora, Dylan, the theatre group, the board game group, & the book club group. It really does feel like a small, close-knit town.

•The island lore & pirate history is fun.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•The ending felt like it wrapped up too neatly...he sees a teaspoon, and suddenly solves the entire thing?

•I’m not a fan of romance plot lines where all the relationship tension/conflict boils down to non-communication, which is basically what happened here.

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

A lovely little addition to this quaint, ‘feels British’ series of whodunnits. Pure class!

This instalment in the Secrets and Scrabble series could be read as a standalone, but you’ll enjoy it more if you’ve read books 1 and 2, as the recurring characters are lovely to catch up with, even the peripheral ones. My favourite has to be Watson, who’s turned into a lovely not-so-little scamp, which JL’s Author’s Note mentions is based on her own Watson 😊

We get to see the ‘are they? aren’t they?’ something between Jack and Ellery develop, and in this tale, after the ‘no they’re not’ feel of book 2, I was pleased that things might be warming up. It was good to see Jack open up – these protags are adult males who actually talk to each other, rather than letting things fester. Yay for that breath of fresh air. But, the reveal was a sad one that was hard to read, hard for Jack to share and hard for Ellery to take in, though it explained Jack’s standoffish stance a little. I think it cleared the air between them and cleared a path to their eventual HEA.

Satisfyingly, at the heart of the book was another well-constructed murder-mystery, with Ellery and his friends coming together to try and solve it. It’s the kind of book that you want to read in one go because of how well written it is, and how classy it is; it has a very quaint British feel of Miss Marple to it. And despite the lack of that staple of MM tales, i.e. on-page sex, this is a sexy tale because it oozes class and because of the author’s gift with words and intelligent wit. Roll on book 4.

ARC from the author and NetGalley for my reading pleasure, but such a good tale that I bought my own copy!

Mystery at the Masquerade is the third book in the Secrets and Scrabble cozy mystery series by Josh Lanyon. Due out 28th Feb 2021, it's 219 pages and available in ebook format.

As a light and engaging series, this one is so appealing. Protagonist Ellery is drawn into murder and skullduggery again. That obviously puts the skids on his budding friendship/romance with the local island police chief, Jack who is on and off again. (Sort yourselves out, boys! Don't make me come over there).

Although this is the third book in the series, and I have admittedly read and reviewed the other two, I think it would work perfectly well as a standalone. The author is a technically adept writer and provides necessary backstory without info-dumping. The narrative is lighthearted, including an ensemble cast of oddball small-town characters. This is one I recommend without reservation to my cozy/romance/mystery loving friends.

There are some fairly silly and over the top developments and plot twists, but it's a village bookstore cozy, so it's really part of the whimsy. The "over the top" characters and dialogue were always on the right side of whimsical and charming and didn't shade over into annoying or yank me out of my suspension of disbelief, so it was a very fun read. There's also the required slow-burn on/off romance subplot with the handsome lawman, again par for the course (although I -did- find myself wanting to bang their heads together because of stubborn wilful pride and intentional misunderstanding!). The language is clean, the murder(s) are off screen and free from violence, there's no direct graphic sexual content; it's a well written and charming bookstore cozy. The author/publisher has taken pains to make it clear that the romance is between two men, so I won't mention that, but there's absolutely no content which would scandalize anyone's maiden auntie. This is pure escapist comfort reading, simple and fun. There's also no covid-19 in Pirate's Cove, Rhode Island, for which I'm grateful. Sometimes it's wonderful to just escape and live vicariously in the pages of my books.

Charming, diverting, and well written. I intend to seek out future volumes in the series. Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes