We only get a taste of the real man behind the badge in this story, but oh, what a deliciously intriguing taste it is.

The most intriguing character in Pirate’s Cove is its police chief, Jack Carson. I enjoyed the bits of Pirate’s Cove that were introduced in this story and I cannot wait to learn more as the Secrets and Scrabble series goes on. He’s also readers’ entree into the world of Pirate’s Cove with its cleverly named stores and gossipy residents. Ellery has a bright, engaging personality that drew me in even when he’s at his most exhausted and frustrated. I’m so glad I did, for this book was a fast-paced, fun, and completely addictive.Įllery isn’t a detective – heck, he doesn’t even read mysteries – but when someone’s trying to frame you for murder, you (at least in fiction) put on your deerstalker cap and get to work. I admit, cozy mysteries aren’t my usual fare but I love Josh Lanyon’s writing so of course I wanted to give this a try. Murder at Pirate’s Cove is a delightful cozy mystery with interesting characters and a quirky town I can’t wait come back to. If he wants to make a go of it in Pirate’s Cove, Ellery will need to think like the detectives in the books he sells and – much to the consternation of handsome the police chief Jack Carson – discover who is trying to frame him before time runs out. Ellery is having a hard enough time saving the failing bookstore and trying to keep the crumbling mansion he’s also inherited from falling down around his ears, so being accused of murder is almost enough to make him want to run screaming back to the city. Well, it was until a dead body shows up in his newly-inherited bookstore. It’s exactly the kind of change New York screenwriter Ellery Page needs.

And once Police Chief Carson learns Trevor was killed with the cutlass hanging over the door of Ellery's bookstore, it is.Ī quaint seaside town with picturesque streets, adorably-named shops, and pirate-themed celebrations…Pirate’s Cove is practically made for a postcard. However, the bookstore is failing, the mansion is falling down, and there's that little drawback of finding rival bookseller-and head of the unwelcoming-committee-Trevor Maples dead during the annual Buccaneer Days celebration. Sure enough, the village is charming, its residents amusingly eccentric, and widowed police chief Jack Carson is decidedly yummy (though probably as straight as he is stern). So when he learns he's inherited both a failing bookstore and a falling-down mansion in the quaint seaside village of Pirate's Cove on Buck Island, Rhode Island, it’s full steam ahead! Ellery Page, aspiring screenwriter, Scrabble champion and guy-with-worst-luck-in-the-world-when-it-comes-to-dating, is ready to make a change.

Murder at Pirate's Cove by Josh Lanyon