Death at the Deep Dive - Secrets and Scrabble #7

 

Death at the Deep Dive is the seventh book in the Secrets and Scrabble cozy mystery series by Josh Lanyon. Released 14th Aug 2022, it's 222 pages and available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. 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 murder and skullduggery again when he stumbles across potential pirate treasure in the form of real gold doubloons and silver coins from the 17th century.

Despite being  the seventh book in the series it would work perfectly well as a standalone. The mystery is mostly self-contained in this volume, and although there are developing relationships and long term plot elements (like the dive bag which started this installment and which was thought lost/stolen), 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