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
Lament at Loon Landing
by
Josh Lanyon
LGBT, amateur sleuth, cozy mystery in a Kindle edition on March 30, 2023 and has 212 pages.
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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, Body at Buccaneer's Bay, Death at the Deep Dive
Sixth in the Secrets and Scrabble LGBTQ amateur sleuth cozy mystery series revolving around Ellery Page, a gay bookseller, who lives on an island in Rhode Island. The focus is on the annual music festival that takes place in September.
My Take
It’s a nice switch up with a couple in a relationship who are honest with each other. It’s a third person protagonist point-of-view from Ellery’s perspective, so we discover how much Ellery has learned from past relationships and how much he appreciates Jack’s honesty. Although, that honesty still creates problems, as Ellery interprets Jack’s comments based on that past.
Ellery is such a nice guy and no one seems to believe anyone can be that nice, although Ellery does seem to be finding that backbone. Yay! Sadly, the tetchy behavior of so many of the other characters is too typical of most of us.
Poor Ellery. With all that “advertising” by Sue, the whole island knows of his inadvertent aid to the police in the past five murders. They all believe he’s secretly a private detective. It doesn’t help that Buck Island has its own network that knows what’s going on almost before it happens. A side attitude on the island is their suspicion of outsiders. Ya have to have lived on the island for centuries.
Jack is the epitome of the kind of cop we all wish existed. He’s diligent in the performance of his duties and keeps in mind that the evidence must be there. He doesn’t care, well, actually he does care, who he worries because it’s the job, and he’s determined to do it well. If more police had been like Jack, Lara would never have served time. How much time is in question, for Lanyon says Lara did seven years and then later he says eleven years in prison. Yep, we do get background on what happened and Neilson’s behavior.
Ooh, I do wish I could see that Gentlemen of Note calendar that Ellery poses for. Seems Jack and Dylan, Captain November, also participate *eyebrow waggle*.
I had hopes for Kingston and Nora’s performance preparation for the festival, but I guess it was an aside for atmosphere.
That Watson is quite the character with his singing the songs of his people, the chasing, his joyful welcomes, and his toys. I cracked up at Lanyon’s colorful description of Watson having “darted off to make sure every bush and tree was as he’d left it”.
Ellery’s romantic progress with Jack is the main series arc while his restoration of Captain’s Seat is minor one — I do enjoy following both.
It is impressive that Ellery can make enough from the bookshop to pay two employees — admittedly, they’re not making much. Considering that there are some 4,000 people on the island, I’d not expect him to make any kind of a living. It is fun to watch though, as Nora and Kingston come up with ideas to make the Crow’s Nest busier and more lucrative.
The music festival brings even more excitement with threats made to Lara Fairplay, “accidents”, the discovery of a piece of music by Stephen Foster, local anger about how much Lara is being paid, the tension between locals and Lara’s crew, Jane’s shifting tales of her past, and the arguments between Ellery and Jack when it comes to arresting people. Hoo boy.
That fortunate discovery of a scrap of Stephen Foster’s music fuels interesting side action with questions about Jane’s actions including the difference in her financial situation and her unexpected purchase as well as her intentions and Lara’s writing the rest of the music to perform.
There is action, but it’s primarily a lot of talk and colorful character interaction with Dylan being [an interesting] character with a depth of knowledge that pulls Ellery’s interest and flamboyant enough that Ellery questioned his preferences. Dylan is involved in a lot on the island. He runs the Monday Night scrabbling games, the local theater group, and the music festival.
For all that, ya gotta wonder why Dylan gets involved with September. He seems too smart for all that gets revealed about the woman. I guess he finally does get it when September doesn’t hold back on what she thinks. In fact, the whole island knows!
The Silver Sleuths, while a help for the Crow’s Nest, are a combination of aid and disaster in their interest in helping the unwilling Ellery with his investigations.
Lara is an interesting character with a contrast of laidback acceptance and anger over her undeserved conviction.
Parents may want to read the Secrets and Scrabble series if only for a list of children’s mystery authors. There are a number I never heard of, and I read a lot as a kid.
Sure, I have a lot of questions about the practicality of how any of it could apply to real life, but DANG it is a fun read with characters I enjoy.
The Story
It’s a paying gig, although Dylan is dodging Ellery’s questions about exactly what they all expect when legendary folk singer Lara Fairplay agrees to make her comeback appearance at Pirate Cove’s annual maritime music festival
It seems that Lara’s headlining has incited a string of death threats. And she’s vehement in her refusal to involve the police.
The Characters
Ellery Page, a former actor and model who’s still writing that screenplay, is now a bookseller with the shop he inherited from his great-great-great aunt Eudora Page. Watson is the black spaniel-mix puppy Ellery encountered in Murder at Pirate’s Cove, 1.
The Crow’s Nest specializes in mysteries, and Ellery employs Nora Sweeny, a retired lady with a handle on all the gossip and history of the island. Kingston Peabody is a recent hire whom Nora has viewed as a competitor. Rupert is the pirate-garbed resin skeleton who serves as the shop’s mascot.
Jack Carson is the police chief of Pirate’s Cove and a former homicide cop in LA. He’s also Ellery’s boyfriend. Hannah had been Jack’s much-loved wife. Harry would have been their son. His men include Officer Martin and the hard-edged Detective Lansing.
Pirate’s Cove, Buck Island, Rhode Island, is . . .
. . . home for Ellery now, living in Captain’s Seat, the mansion Captain Horatio Page built in the 1700s, that Ellery inherited from Eudora. Dylan Carter, who owns the Toy Chest next door to the bookshop and manages the Scallywags theater guild, is Ellery’s closest friend. The disliked September St Simmons is Dylan’s girlfriend — hoo-boy, the stuff we learn about her!
Janet Maples owns the Old Salt Stationery shop. Sue Lewis, the owner/editor of the Scuttlebutt Weekly, is Ellery’s archnemesis. Supposedly, the fallout from events in Scandal at the Salty Dog, 4, have made Sue a changed woman. As if! “Cap” Elijah Murphy writes a weekly column for the newspaper. The Seacrest Inn is the best in town. Imelda Appleby is the receptionist at Vincent Veterinary Hospital. The Cloaked Owl is a commercial provider of witchcraft items. Tom Tulley owns the Salty Dog pub. Libby Tulley is Tom’s daughter who’s off to college and who’s been a leading light in the Scallawags. Sandy Morita, who owns the art gallery next to the Crow’s Nest, has a face painting booth for the festival. Greta Handel runs a gourmet grocery store. Dr Robert Mane is the medical director and CEO of the Buck Island Med Center as well as the substitute medical examiner.
The Silver Sleuths is a book club that includes Jane Smith, who works in an antique shop owned by Oriel Dolin; the book-returning Hermione Nelson; Mrs Ferris; Stanley Starling; and, Edna Clarence.
Sing the Plank is an annual music festival that is teetering on the brink. It takes place in the decrepit Loon Landing Boathouse Theater. Dylan manages it and others on the board include Olive Earl, David Fish (owns Garden Isles Florist as well as being the leader of the Fish and Chippies, the island’s favorite folk band), and Philippa Jones. Madame Buckley, a medium, is one of the participants.
Lara Fairplay, a former bright folk singer, is working on a comeback tour and headlining the festival. Neilson Elon is her husband and manager. Jocasta Fairplay is Lara’s sister who admires Neilson. Artemisia “Arti” Rathbone, a descendant of Ann Rathbone, a college theater major, and James Sutherland were the island band, Backsplash Butterfly, Lara joined. White Wine Records was the company that broke them up. “Fool Me, Fool You” had been Lara’s big hit single. And quite biographical.
Gig had been the drummer. The questionable Dawn Shumway’s behavior resulted in seven/eleven years for manslaughter. Pat Pendragon had been the headliner two years ago. Quinton Jones had built the boathouse in the 1800s that was later converted into the theatre.
Mr Honeycutt is the lawyer handling Brandon Abbott’s estate (Mystery at the Masquerade, 3). Howard King was in Body at Buccaneer’s Bay, 5. Cyrus Jones is the former mayor of Pirate’s Cove (Secret at Skull House, 2). Ned Shandy had been a key player in Mystery at the Masquerade. Todd is one of Ellery’s exes (Murder at Pirate’s Cove, 1). The Pirate Eight were the original founders of Pirate’s Cove, as a village.
The Cover and Title
The cover background is black with a texture of vertical gray streaks. At the very top is the author’s name in orange with the title below it in white and shaded with black. Underlapping the title is a worn vintage piece of sheet music set a’slant with music notes. At the bottom is a vintage paper scroll with the series info on it in brown.
The title is a surface complement to the call of a loon, a Lament at Loon Landing, and I suspect a metaphorical lament for the past.
