Corpse at Captain’s Seat

Corpse at Captain’s Seat (2024) Josh Lanyon (Secrets and Scrabble #8)

Finally, the Captain’s Seat is remodeled enough for visitors!

Watery light flooded from the overhead windows, moodily illuminating the gleaming patchwork of ship’s timber flooring and old paintings on the white oak panels, and the banisters built to look like the row of cannons on the broadside of a warship.

For the first time in months, the “great hall” was empty of drop cloths, saw horses, ladders, paint cans, and various scattered tools.

Even if it’s not 100% finished.

“You mean there’s no heat?”

“No, there’s central heating. It’s just sort of at will.”

“Whose will?”

“The house’s?”

To celebrate, Ellery is throwing a party–and inviting his best friends from college, to spend the weekend.

But not only is there a blizzard, there is also an escaped ax-murderer who may or may not be heading out to the island.

I love the idea of this series, but the execution of the last several books hasn’t met my expectations. I had a hard time keeping track of Ellery’s friends in this story–we got four at once and they were all just “Ellery’s friends”; eventually I got thatFreddie was the working actor, Chelsea was trying really hard to finally make it as an actor and… I’m still not sure what everyone else did.

I’ll keep on reading the series, because it was nothing egregious and it is a cozy mystery, but I was hoping for better.

Characters: Belle, Chelsea, Dylan, Edwin Dolph, Flip / Phillip Daly, Freddie Ames, Jack Carson, Kingston, Lenny, Nora Sweeney, Oscar Murillo, Tony Brambilla, Tosh / Theresa Chase-Ames, Watson

Cover design by K.B. Smith

Publisher: JustJoshin Publishing, Inc.

Rating: 6/10

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