Watson is so cute, every time I see his name I smile.

I love Ellery, Nora and Kingston. I would shop at his mystery bookstore! I just love the vibe of the island.

We get some answers to some long term questions (nothing earth shattering just mini mysteries solved)

Sometimes I really like Jack and other times I think he’s a big butt. And then people make excuses for him which is lame. Let Ellery be mad at his shitty not boyfriend!

I do love this series and I would read about Ellery just hanging out at his store with no mysteries at all. I’m off to read the next one and I’m so excited!

Lament at Loon Landing brings a once famous folk singer to Pirate's Cove. Unfortunately, her comeback performance is surrounding by death threats and dangerous close calls. Ellery's close friend asks him to help find out if the threats are real. He's not sure what he's actually supposed to be doing, but it's not long and no surprise to anyone that he finds himself another dead body.

Ellery and his team of sleuths brainstorm the theories around the folk singers, while also trying to prove the innocence of Ellery's friend. With Ellery's lover being the Chief of Police, it puts a strain on their delicate relationship when Jack has to put the job before his personal feelings.

Overall, while I enjoyed spending time back with Ellery and his friends at Pirate's Cove, I was underwhelmed by the mystery's wrap up and the relationship strain between Ellery and Jack.

Lament at Loon Landing is the sixth book in the Secrets and Scrabble cozy mystery series by Josh Lanyon. Released 30th March 2023, it's 212 pages and available in ebook format. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

As a light and engaging series, this one is so appealing. Protagonist Ellery is drawn into poison pen letters and skullduggery as always (he's a very dangerous person to be around, statistically speaking). Boyfriend, and handsome officer of the law, Jack, tries to keep him safe and mostly intact. This outing, famous folk singer Lara Fairplay is in town to headline a local festival and keeps receiving threatening letters which Ellery is hired to investigate in a private capacity.

Despite being the sixth book in the series it works fine as a standalone. The mystery is mostly self-contained in this volume, and although there are developing relationships and long term plot elements, new readers coming to this volume won't have any trouble following the story. The author is technically adept and provides necessary backstory without info-dumping. The narrative is lighthearted, including an ensemble cast of oddball small-town characters. This is one series 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 small village 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. 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.

Four stars. Engaging and well written.

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

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this for an honest review.

These are so fun. I love Ellery and Watson and Jack (even when he’s being a turd.) If I have one gripe, it’s that there’s so much build up, and then when Ellery and Jack solve their cases, the resulting wrap up is so quick.

This one gets down to the action right away with Dylan and the festival trying to convince (bribe?) Ellery to help them figure out if the threats to Lara, the music festival headliner, are real. Ellery’s reluctant, but the thousand dollar price tag is convincing.

The second case, the murder of Dylan’s girlfriend, puts Ell and Jack at odds as the evidence stacks up to point at Dylan, and Ellery’s determined to prove he didn’t do it. Sometimes being an amateur sleuth with a cop boyfriend is not fun. But, they work it out, because Ellery’s doing better with stating his feelings and needs clearly and they both know when to say they’re sorry.

Honestly, my most favorite character is the dog, Watson because he has so much personality and is just a little scamp. I could keep reading this series indefinitely.

This series is so damn enjoyable: I have loved every single one of the "Secrets and Scrabble" installments, and Josh Lanyon's latest one is no exception.

"Lament at Loon Landing" reminded me precisely how much I adore these novels, what a brilliant and highly lovable protagonist Ellery Page is, and why I love mysteries, of every flavour and kind, so damn much.
It also reminded me I should definitely dive into Josh Lanyon's backlist a bit more thoroughly because I LOVE HER WRITING: it's subtly funny and snarky, clever and so easy to inhale. And all of her mysteries are exactly like that too, brilliant and unexpected, witty and easily devoured.

I inhaled Ellery Page's latest adventure in two sittings because, as usual, I was hooked from the very start. Death threats, mysterious accidents, unexpected discoveries, questionable song-writing, betrayals, quarreling lovers (and quarreling Silver Sleuths), hidden identities and, of course, murder, danger and a whole lot of amateur sleuthing: Ellery has his hands full during the events of this book, especially when these events bring about a new challenge, and a fair dose of doubts and insecurity and drama, to his and Jack's slowly developing romance.

Needless to say, I loved every single second I got to spend in Ellery's head as he tried to solve Pirate's Cove umpteenth mystery. He is, as usual, an absolute joy to read about: funny and kind, insecure and lovable, witty and helpessly unable to resist his calling as an amateur sleuth.
And, as usual, he's surrounded by Pirate's Cove wacky, chaotic, not very law-abiding and definitely quirky, citizens: Nora and Watson steal the show, as per usual; all the Silver Sleuths own my heart; and Jack, despite the drama that unfolds with Ellery, is the perfect dreamboat. Actually, I'm glad we got a bit of relationship angst: it's about time things started moving ahead with these two, and I'm very excited to see if Jack's parents (and/or Rob) will soon challenge the status quo.

"Lament at Loon Landing" wasn't my favourite installment in this series, because some aspects of the mystery could have probably been developed a bit more, especially near the end, but I loved it to bits nevertheless: I'm excited to dive into the next book.

Remember that this is book 6, and we've had 7 already, but a decent read, as always.

I'm not sure how or why, but book 7 in this series, Death at the Deep Dive, which had the loveliest, most unexpected ending so far of all the books, came out last summer, and this tale takes place before events in the latter, so I was thrown for a few over the 'feels like a step back' relationship between Jack and Ellery. But, that was a side aspect to the tale and once again, refreshingly, we saw two grown men who might have been irritated with each other but who managed to later reflect and get their big boy pants on and see their actions and realise where the other was coming from. Once again, misunderstandings get cleared up with rational thinking and men who talk to each other instead of bottling it up and brooding and creating endless faux angst as a barely-there plot device - thank you, JL!

The above aside, once again there's enough weaving of people and events and eras to give readers a tale that's worth reading and trying to figure out the whodunit. I did think one person appeared a few too many times not to be involved, and another did protest a tad too much, but the weaving and the reveals were still good enough and believable enough to make everything mesh. And, that an annoying side-side character met their demise, freeing up a likeable side character, actually felt like a not-bad thing, without glossing over a death. I hadn't quite understood why that pairing was a pairing and I'm glad it's over - it never seems to feel as bad when it's the not-the-nicest-person that gets taken out.

There's not a lot of Jack-Ellery time, but that's understandable with the background events to the tale. We do get to see enough of the delightful Watson for my liking, though not enough of the Silver Sleuths, again due to the happenings. But, there's another romance unfurling, which feels sweet and organic and which I'd love to see more of in what looks to be the final tale in the series, due out on 10 May 2023. I hope that it isn't the final tale, as this lovely little series could go on and on, and, the romance between Jack and Ellery, whilst sweet and integral, refreshingly isn't the be-all, end-all of the series. I'd have happily picked up these books for the quality and lack of tropes and cliché. I mean, it's lovely where Jack and Ellery are in book 7, and it feels like it's a given that they'll only get closer and stronger in book 8, but after that peaking, there'd still be plenty of life in this series. Hopefully JL will take us there from time to time, in between other releases.

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