I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Corpse at Captain's Seat
by
Josh Lanyon
LGBT, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by JustJoshin Publishing Inc. on June 26, 2024 and has 206 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Fatal Shadows, Death of a Pirate King, A Dangerous Thing, The Hell You Say, Dark Tide, Somebody Killed His Editor, Fair Play, Fair Chance, "So This is Christmas", Murder at Pirate's Cove, Secret at Skull House, Footsteps in the Dark, Mystery at the Masquerade, The Dark Farewell, “A Funny Thing Happened . . .”, Murder Takes the High Road, Fair Game, Scandal at the Salty Dog, Body at Buccaneer's Bay, Lament at Loon Landing, Death at the Deep Dive
Eighth in the Secrets and Scrabble cozy LGBTQ mystery series and revolving around Ellery Page, the owner of a mystery bookshop on an island off Rhode Island, which Ellery inherited nine months ago. The focus is on a reunion of friends.
My Take
Oh, this was a sad one, or would have been if Lanyon had done more of a show. As it was, it was ho-hum in the reveal. Although I do suspect it set a number of (characters’) minds at rest.
Part of the series arc setting is Captain’s Seat, the 18th century mansion that’s been in the family since it was built. I’m not sure, but I gotta wonder if that was the last time it was “updated”. Yep, Ellery has been slowly fixing the place up, as money permits.
Central heating operates at the house’s will.
Another arc has always been Ellery’s discomfort when he thinks of a friend who had died while the group was at college. A past event that incites Jack and Ellery into an argument over instinct — as well as that age-old idiom about what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Hey, it’s only fair.
They are an incestuous group with one or another having dated or married one or another. Some have been great friends but currently aren’t. Then there’s the tragedy from their past that they all try to ignore.
Being a group of friends who haven’t seen each other in a while, they reminisce and question Ellery’s choice to retire. It doesn’t help his friends’ perspective that Jack is so different from everyone Ellery has dated in the past.
That Chelsea is something else — and the negative character in Corpse at Captain’s Seat. All her friends say she’s a great actress with little interest in “artifice” — until this reunion. Lord knows, Chelsea is one bitter woman.
The cozy comes in with both the snowstorm and the house party with everyone socializing, cooking together, eating together, and gamesplaying. It’s a perspective that comes via Ellery with Lanyon using third person protagonist point-of-view.
Ya gotta love Watson — or at least Lanyon’s interpretations of Watson’s actions, lol.
”. . . flat on the cement as Watson worked frantically to deliver mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”
”. . . knowing his life-saving work was not done, objected loudly.”
Yep, snark. Lots of snark, which I do so enjoy.
Lanyon pokes fun at horror movie tropes, including the group’s remembrance of a play they performed in college. One that will be eerily similar. There’re the hidden passageways, the disappearing photos, the hatchet, an escaped nutcase, being trapped in a scary house, and whispered fears.
Part of my problem with Corpse at Captain’s Seat isn’t Lanyon’s range of characters, but with that surety they have that they know who the killer is. Kind of sudden, isn’t it? Where does Ellery get that sudden “insight” from? Then when they knock out the person they think it is? What is all this based on? And then when the character flat out confesses? What’s with that?
Don’t get me wrong. I did tense up with the restrictions Jack laid on Ellery. “Rules” that really can’t be kept. Especially with the eavesdropping going on, and I do enjoy the atmosphere of the series as a whole and the clearing up of that old mystery . . . and yet, this one misses.
The Story
To celebrate finishing the essential renovations of stately Captain’s Seat, Ellery Page decides to invite all his old colege theater friends to stay for the weekend and throw a house-warming party.
When a freak snowstorm leaves the house-party cut off from the village of Pirate’s Cove, there’s nothing to do but drink, reminisce, and play board games.
Only those reminiscences lead to more uneasy remembrances.
The Characters
Ellery Page had been an actor — especially popular in those four Halloween movies, but chose to retreat to Pirate’s Cove when his great-aunt Eudora died and left him Captain’s Seat (built by Captain Horatio Page, a pirate hunter) and the Crow’s Nest, a bookshop that specializes in mysteries. Watson is his black spaniel-mix puppy found in Murder at Pirate’s Cove, 1. Nora Sweeney is his assistant manager with a fascination for mysteries and an in-depth knowledge of the island. Kingston is another employee.
Jack Carson, the police chief of Pirate’s Cove and former homicide detective in LA, is now Ellery’s fiancé. Detective George Lansing is part of the police force.
Ellery’s crew of friends from his Tisch college days include Belle (engaged to Viscount Hate), Oscar Murillo (an archivist at the UCLA Film and Television Archive), Phillip “Flip” Daly (the better actor), Theresa “Tosh” Chase-Ames (works special events for a theater group and has a cat, Waldo), Lenny “Goth Girl”, Chelsea, and Freddie Ames (landed a role as a detective in LAPD Blues). Noah Tandy had been one of them until his death.
Pirate’s Cove is . . .
. . . on Buck Island, just off Rhode Island, and is a popular tourist spot. The first manor houses, the Pirate Eight, in Pirate’s Cove were built by pirates. Tom Tulley owns the Salty Dog tavern. Tony Brambilla of Brambilla and Sons is a contractor. Ezra Christmas is a taxi driver. Dylan Carter is friend who runs the local theater group. Greta’s Gourmandery will be the caterer. Sue Lewis is the editor and owner of the Scuttlebutt Weekly — and not a friend. The Monday Night Scrabblers is one of the groups on the island to which Ellery belongs.
Cyrus, a former mayor (Secret at Skull House, 2) is out on bail and planning to run for mayor again.
Dan Moran is a detective with the LAPD and consults for the TV show; he’s married to Sean Fairchild. Sid is Freddie’s agent.
Edwin Dolph is a patient who has escaped the Rhode Island State Psychiatric Hospital. Cyril Dolph, an ancestor, had been a suspect in a theft. Frank Weeden had been a homicidal maniac back in 1907. Colonel Giordano is with the Rhode Island State Police. The Dourdos Aquamarine is a lost treasure. Black Palace wants to do a Happy Halloween reboot with “Noah Street” in a cameo and Fallon Provost and Billie Watson the new stars.
Brandon, a horror writer, had been Ellery’s “superior” boyfriend in Secret at Skull House, 2, and Mystery at the Masquerade, 3. Todd had been Ellery’s snotty (second) boyfriend (Murder at Pirate’s Cove, 1) who had cheat on Ellery with Jerry, Ellery’s best friend.
The Cover and Title
The background for the cover is a gloomy snow-filled sky of grays and whites with a gloomy Captain’s Seat rising up in the middle. At the top is the author’s name in black with the title below in a black-outlined white, using a suitably gloomy font. At the bottom is an antiqued scroll with the series name on it in brown.
The title is literal, for there is a Corpse at Captain’s Seat.
