Narrated by Matt Haynes
The rules of the cosy mystery genre state that there should be no on-page sex or violence, the detective is an amateur sleuth and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. Josh Lanyon is known for writing complex, suspenseful mysteries that eschew neither of those things (sex and violence), so her new Secrets and Scrabble series is something of a departure for her and, I’m led to believe, for m/m mysteries in general. (Disclaimer: I’m no expert, but Josh Lanyon actually said in a recent interview that these are the first m/m cosies, and I’m inclined to believe she knows what she’s talking about!)
I’m not the greatest fan of cosy mysteries, but I am a fan of the author’s, and was interested to see how she’d tackle something different to her usual output. Plus, I’m a book nerd; I like it when an author deliberately sets out to use certain stylistic conventions and I like recognising them and seeing how well they’ve been incorporated or upended, according to the author’s intent.
I ended up being very pleasantly surprised by Murder at Pirate’s Cove, which is a fun, generally light-hearted and fast-moving story featuring a thoroughly endearing hero, a handsome, enigmatic potential love-interest and a suitably quirky cast of secondary characters. Matt Haynes is a new-to-me narrator, and although things started a little shakily, he grew on me fairly quickly so all in all, the audio experience was a good one.
Former actor and aspiring screenwriter Ellery Page upped sticks, left his cheating ex- behind and moved from NYC to the small Rhode Island sea-side resort of Pirate’s Cove after unexpectedly inheriting a house and a business – a bookshop specialising in mysteries – from his great-great-great-aunt Eudora. That was three months ago, and he’s starting to wonder how much longer he’s going to be able to stay. The Crow’s Nest bookshop is losing money and the house – Captain’s Seat, which is a fifteen-minute drive outside town – is somewhat dilapidated and in need of a lot of (expensive) TLC. Even so, Ellery is determined not to give up; even if he’s still something of an outsider in Pirate’s Cove, he likes life there and wants to make a go of it.
Ellery is having yet another discussion with local businessman Trevor Maples, who wants to buy Crow’s Nest and has interpreted Ellery’s refusals as a negotiating tactic to get himself a better deal. On this particular day, the discussion gets somewhat heated, but when Maples finally storms out, Ellery hopes that this time, he’s got the message that the shop is not for sale. After a quiet dinner at the local pub, Ellery returns to Crow’s Nest to pick up his car when he notices all the lights – which he’d turned off – are on. Inside he’s shocked to find a body dressed in a pirate costume lying in the middle of the floor, blood slowly pooling around it… and even more shocked to see the dead man is none other than Trevor Maples.
When word spreads about the altercation between Ellery and Maples earlier in the day, and then the murder weapon is proved to be the cutlass that usually hangs above the door of Crow’s Nest (but which has disappeared), things start looking pretty bad for our hero. And of course, bad goes to worse when Police Chief Jack Carson makes it clear that Ellery is his number one suspect. Concerned that if the investigation is focused on him, nobody will be trying to find the real killer, Ellery decides to make some enquiries of his own. Maybe he’ll be able to find something that will direct the chief’s attention elsewhere, and even prove his own innocence along the way. But then the cutlass is discovered, another member of the community is found dead – and it becomes clear that someone is working very hard to frame Ellery for the murders. The question is who – and why? And even more importantly, can Ellery find out what’s going on before he becomes the killer’s next victim?
Even though the cosy mystery isn’t my favourite genre, I was nonetheless won over by Murder at Pirate’s Cove and by Ellery Page, who is sweet, funny and utterly delightful. His dry wit and wry observations had me smiling often, and I rather liked that, unlike many amateur sleuths, he’s almost completely clueless about crime shows and mystery novels. The mystery is nicely done, with plenty of red herrings and clues for listeners to follow along the way, and while there’s no romance as such, there are definitely some sparks flying between Ellery and Jack Carson. I’m looking forward to future developments in that area – although as the author has announced there are to be eight books in the series, I’m not expecting anything momentous to happen any time soon!
Matt Haynes is an experienced narrator, but I haven’t listened to him before. The story is told from Ellery’s PoV, and Mr Haynes’ characterisation of him is spot on; he absolutely nails Ellery’s warmth, charm and self-deprecating humour, his performance is well-paced and his timing in the back-and-forth exchanges between Ellery and Jack Carson is perfect. The husky timbre he assigns to Jack’s voice is attractive, and the other secondary characters are well differentiated and voiced appropriately, although the female characters don’t sound particularly feminine. They’re voiced in the same register as most of the male characters, but they ARE recognisably distinct and ultimately, I didn’t find it too much of an issue. Mr. Haynes does a mean New York accent (to my English ears!) and makes good use of it for a couple of characters, notably Mayor Jones and Nora, Ellery’s friend and assistant at the bookshop. I’m not sure why, but it took me a couple of chapters to really settle in to his performance – or a couple of chapters for his performance to settle – but once that happened, I enjoyed it very much.
At just over six hours, Murder at Pirate’s Cove is a relatively short listen, but it’s a thoroughly entertaining one and I’m looking forward to the next in the series.
Caz
Buy Murder at Pirate's Cove by Josh Lanyon on Amazon
