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
Body at Buccaneer's Bay
by
Josh Lanyon
LGBT, amateur sleuth, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by JustJoshin Publishing Inc. on December 18, 2021 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, Corpse at Captain's Seat, Scandal at the Salty Dog, Lament at Loon Landing, Death at the Deep Dive
Fifth in the Secrets and Scrabble cozy amateur sleuth mystery series and revolving around gay Ellery Page on Buck Island in Rhode Island. It’s August.
My Take
Ellery does have his insecurities, one of which is past history of a cheating boyfriend. I do love his mother already; Ellery describes her as a pistol, unregistered and fully loaded. I do love that she and his stepfather love Ellery.
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Ooh, island life that means most of their food is home-grown — tasty!
That Nora. She is assertive and sets Ellery’s “fee” for detective work. Poor Ellery does have a rep for finding dead bodies.
Relationship-wise, Ellery lists the reasons he’s not feeling too secure, which we learn from Lanyon’s use of third person protagonist point-of-view from Ellery’s perspective. A small part that contributes is Jack’s insistence on Ellery’s security. A cost that is part of Ellery’s worries.
It’s a tale with plenty of inner thought, interaction, and action, playing off Ellery’s rep. That ending when the truth comes out? Oh, boy. The betrayals . . . That said, I did enjoy the story and yet there isn’t a lot happening in Ellery’s life. Ehhh, not entirely true. Jack meets Ellery’s parents, as do we. I do hope we’ll be seeing more of them.
The Story
A pleasurable dive quickly turns into a murderous mystery with the discovery of a 1930s diving suit in a wreck from 1956. That bit of excitement is exacerbated by the poison pen letters Ellery is receiving.
Odette Wallace believes someone — one or more of her stepchildren — is trying to kill her and knows Ellery can figure out who. And Ellery is worried about that stalker.
The Characters
Ellery Page, a.k.a. Noah Street of the Happy Halloween! You’re Dead! movies, inherited the Crow’s Nest, a mystery bookstore, on Buck Island back in February. Ellery had also inherited Great-great-great aunt Eudora Page’s mansion, Captain’s Seat, built by the pirate-hunting Captain Horatio Page who died at 102 in his bed. Watson is Ellery’s dog (Murder at Pirate’s Cove, 1). Talia Alexander, a famous actress, is Ellery’s mother; she also teaches drama to high-schoolers. (Shove is one of her films.) George Alexander, an indie director, is Ellery’s stepfather.
The kindhearted, mystery-obsessed Nora Sweeny is the assistant manager at the Crow’s Nest. Kingston, a retired high school teacher is a new hire whom Nora likes but doesn’t trust. He also writes as KK Peabody. Rupert, a skeleton, is the decorative mascot for the shop.
Police Chief Jack Carson, formerly a homicide detective with the LAPD, is Ellery’s boyfriend. Hannah had been Jack’s wife in LA. Jack’s officers include Martin and Battye. The former chief of police was Ballard with a lousy record of, well, record-keeping.
Dylan Carter is one of Ellery’s best friends on the island and owns the Toy Chest next door to the Crow’s Nest. Dylan also manages the Scallywags, the local theater guild of which Libby and her boyfriend, Felix Jones (the ex-mayor’s kid from Secret at Skull House, 2), are members. September St Simmons is Dylan’s girlfriend.
Pirate’s Cove
. . . a village on Buck Island where Ellery lives and works. The Salty Dog is a favorite hangout and is owned by Tom Tulley. Libby Tulley is his daughter who waitresses at the pub and is dating Felix. The Pirate’s Cove’s Historical Society is slowly coming back to life. Nan Sweeny, Nora’s niece, owns the Seacrest Inn, which has a gorgeous café where Frankie is a waitress (she also works at the Salty Dog). Dr Robert Mane, a total movie geek and the medical director and CEO at the Buck Island Med Center, is interested in Ellery. The Silver Sleuth Book Club, that meets on Tuesdays, gets a little too excited about murder. Members include Stanley Starling. Starling is also a member of the Monday Night Scrabblers along with Janet, Nora, and Nicole Ferris. The Gull’s Wing café. Sandy Morita owns the art gallery next to the Crow’s Nest; Terry is her young daughter and Watson’s regular babysitter. The Brewhouse. Greta owns the Gourmandery where June Shandy works. Ethan Cleverbridge owns the Sea Horse tavern. Tommy Rider had been a real estate agent (Murder at Pirate’s Cove). Sue Lewis, Ellery’s arch-enemy, owns and is editor-in-chief of the Scuttlebutt Weekly, the local newspaper.
Odette Wallace, Tristan’s widow, used to frequent the Crow’s Nest. She has three stepchildren: Vanessa (married to Ralph); Colby, a.k.a. Rowdy, who is the black sheep of his family;, and, Mason, who owns the Wet Dreams — one of one of the groups of rich summer folk. Tristan Wallace had been a meanspirited man. Kimberly, Tristan’s first wife, had been their mother. The Siren Song is the superyacht Tristan took out one night and never returned. Kezzie Harwood is a friend of Odette’s. Howard “Howie” King, Odette’s lawyer, who owns the Windsong. He’d been engaged to Tansy Wallingford. Martha and Chester are servants in Odette’s house. Bailey is/was Colby’s fiancée. Petey Windersnickle is the beau Odette dropped.
Hermione Nelson is notorious for slipping treats to Watson. Jane Smith is another client of the Crow’s Nest.
“Cap” Elijah Murphy owns the Fishful Thinkin’. He also writes a weekly editorial for the local paper. The Shandys are one of the island’s original families, wreckers. They own the
Trevor Maples had been murdered in Murder at Pirate’s Cove. Brandon Abbott had been a former boyfriend of Ellery’s — his mother called him “Young Dracula”. Mr Honeycutt is the lawyer handling Brandon’s estate, which includes Skull House (Secret at Skull House and Mystery at the Masquerade, 3). Todd had been another ex. Julian Bloodworth was thought to have murdered Brett Ainsley (Mystery at the Masquerade, 3).
Mystery authors include Mary Daheim, Joanne Fluke, Laura Bradford, Carolyn Hart, Jenna Bennet, Nancy Atherton, and Sara Rosett. Christopher Holmes writes the Mrs Butterwith series (Holmes & Moriarity series published by Wheaton & Woodhouse).
The Sea Tow is a salvage company. The Blood Red Rose was thought to have sunk off the coast in the 1700s. The Roussillon is anothe r sunken ship that sunk in 1956.
The Cover and Title
The background for the cover seems to be aiming for a vintage paper look except with a grayish pale yellow. At the top is the author’s name in a dark blue. Below that is the title in cream with a black shadowy outline. Underlapping the title is an old-fashioned diving helmet in silver. Below that is an aged paper scroll with the series information.in a dark brown.
The title is literally, a Body at Buccaneer’s Bay.
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