Grasmere Cottage Mystery

Grasmere Cottage Mystery (2018) Dahlia Donovan

This is actually three novellas, but since I read it as one book, I’m going to review it as such also.

Dead in the Garden
Dead in the Pond
Dead in the Shop

Valor Scott and Bishan Tamboli have been best friends since their days at Harrow, and have lived together as a couple for the past thirteen years, after Valor’s parents disowned him.

It seemed being gay and dating an Anglo-Indian had been one step too far for the son of an earl.

Bish has his own difficulties, being autistic and sometimes unable to function as society dictates.

The trouble with the subtle approach was Bishan didn’t read tone or body language at all. He couldn’t. Sunesh had dedicated almost an entire year to try to teach him— and it ended with him finally dumping a tub of yoghurt over his brother’s head in frustration. Yoghurt-gate had drawn the curtains on his siblings trying to “educate the autistic.”

When a dead body is discovered in their garden, Bish is arrested and Valor goes all in to get him freed–and hopefully discover who the killer is.

As I said, this is three stories. The first and third are told from Valor’s POV, the second is told from Bish’s. The first two stories end on cliffhangers, but since the stories were published within weeks of each other, that wasn’t a huge deal.

I like pretty much everything about this story: Bish, Valor, their friends, the mystery–all of it. The mystery is well executed and actually makes sense. Valor is sweet, but not without flaws, and I especially liked seeing the world through Bish’s eyes, since from the outside he could be a bit opaque.

It was the re-read I was needing.

Publisher : Hot Tree Publishing
Rating: 8.5/10

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