Another decent mystery (or two) in this likeable series, plus, more of Watson. Arf! Arf! Arf!

Whilst this book forms part of a series, there's enough info that a newbie reader could pick it up and not get lost. For me, having read all the others, this was a lovely catch-up with some great characters, and intro to some new ones, and best of all, seeing the delightful Watson again.

What I hadn't realised is that despite this being book 5, Ellery and Jack have only known each other for a couple of months and have been a couple for less than that, but they feel like an older pairing in some ways, and at the same time, their relationship reminded me a little of that of Cosmo and John from the Bedknobs and Broomsticks series. Here, they seem to be able to be more honest and open with each other and it's clear that Jack respects that Ellery's able to make his own decisions about his sleuthing, but at the same time, there are some explosions over safety, especially with the events in the tale and the ongoing theme of the threats against Ellery (trying not to spoiler here).

The mystery - mysteries - were well woven for the most, though one character seemed to be a little too obviously a suspect re one aspect, but everything seemed to end rather quickly after a big bang and it wasn't quite clear who'd get their comeuppance and not. I totally hadn't seen the twist that necessitated the death of another character right at the end, but it wasn't entirely clear who'd been involved in dirty deeds or not, and it also wasn't explained whether the remaining characters were in the clear or not, which is where the tale loses 1* for me.

I liked the intro to Ellery's parents, liked seeing more of Dylan and the rest of the crew, and of course, my fave character, Watson. And, might there be a future side romance in the offing? Not spoiling anything here but there were sparks flying, a bust-up and then flowers and I suspect that like the threats to Ellery, that'll be another ongoing theme to the series.

ARC courtesy of the author and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.