Genre/Tags: LGBTQ , Cozy Murder/Mystery, Romance, Series

Author: Gregory Ashe

Story Rating: 5 Stars

Narrator: Andrew Gibson

Narrator Rating: 5 Stars

Length: 6 hours and 58 minutes

Audiobook Buy Links: Audible, Gregory Ashe

What would you do to get everything you wanted?

Life is good for Dashiell Dawson Dane (just Dash). Things with his boyfriend, Bobby, are better than ever. Teaching at a local college has provided routine and stability. And to his complete surprise, his self-published novel is doing well. Really well. So, when a mystery writers’ conference comes to Hastings Rock, Dash is thrilled to attend.

He’s less thrilled when Vivienne Carver, his former nemesis—the woman who framed him for murder and then tried to kill him—appears at the conference, released from prison and determined to reclaim both fame and fortune. And, as usual, Vivienne has a plan.

But when Vivienne is murdered the first night of the conference, and Dash is—once again—the prime suspect, he’ll have to find the real killer to prove his innocence.

Even worse, Dash might be right back where he started.

Review: 

But somehow, I said, “Bobby, you are important to me. You’re the most important person in my life.”
I didn’t realize I was crying until he moved, nodding his head, everything blurred by the tears.
“Okay,” he said. 

As the blurb says, Dash is at a writing conference, Northern Noir, which is being held at Hastings Rock. Happily, and a bit of a while in the making, Dash has some genuine success with his first book, A Work in Progress. So much so, that he’s being chased by a TV executive at Northern Noir to come back to LA. They want the rights to the book. Well, not just the book. They also want to work Dash and his zealous crime solving abilities into the package and call it Mr. Murder. 

Mr. Murder. Mmm. It does not sound like Dash at all. However, Julian, the exec, gets put on the backburner because Vivienne Carver shows up at the Con. Apparently no one was made aware that she was released from jail, including the Sheriff’s department. She seeks out Dash who is understandably rattled because she did try to frame him for murder, and not content with that, then tried to actually murder him. (Mystery Magnet, #1.)  Some hefty triggers. And in an “oh no, not again?!” full circle moment, Vivienne is murdered on the first night of Northern Noir and things point to Dash. Everyone knows that Vivienne is dead, she was very much a cause célèbre in Hastings Rock and the wider murder/mystery and true crime writing and reading community. Even Dash’s very extra parents pile on.   

“I’m busy,” I said as I answered the phone.
“Hello to you too,” my mom said. “I understand you’ve killed Vivienne again.”

Retool gives good cozy murder/mystery. It revolves around the writing world. Given that it’s a writers’ conference, given that Dash writes, given that Vivienne is who Vivienne is, it makes sense for what I believe to be the last main series book. Apart from Dash in the initial hot seat, there are writers, editors, agents, co-ordinators, etc, who have reason to want Vivienne, and others, dead. So, definitely no shortage of suspects. As much as Bobby would like Dash to be safe and leave it to the Sheriff’s office, Dash was never going to do that because if he’d done that the first time he came to Hastings Rock, he’d either be in jail or dead. The primary difference this time around is Dash has a loving partner in Bobby plus friends who know and support him. Besides, Dash will never not investigate and Bobby knows it.

I rubbed his leg. “I shouldn’t have followed her. I should have left it alone, like you told me to.”
Bobby made a sound that might have qualified as amused.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“It means I would have liked to see that.”

Other things that make the page in Retool. Deputy Bobby is now a detective, yay! Dash has an overly obsessive fan, Spenser, who shows up at the conference and sets Dash’s writer spidey senses tingling. He’s a tad aggravated and drily compares Spenser to Annie Wilkes. (Misery.) Which made me laugh. 

The Last Picks all chip in to support Dash. Even Keme shows just how much he cares about him. Made an old gal teary. Dash and Bobby communicate. Really communicate with only one quickly rectified hiccup. Bobby deliciously… assists Dash. Love that—>

Dash finally gets to spit out his hypotheses about the murderer, how he got there. He still gets interrupted, this time in a personal way-

“You! My God, the fact that it’s you. It would be one thing if it were Vivienne, but you?”
“Okay, well, now it’s getting rude—”

Not to worry, Dash gets his moment in the sun to dissect the murder and his conclusion with the murderer there. Apt and fitting for the last book. 

Overall: 

I’m a terrible series reader. There are only a couple of series that I’ve stayed the journey with. The Last Picks series is one of the very few. I had a moment or two when Dash and Bobby hit some hurdles which then ran over into another series book. That didn’t stop me. Once those hurdles got jumped, and we got the development of their relationship alongside the various murder/mysteries, it was so good. I’m actually listening to the series all over again to hear things I might have missed the first time around. Like there can never be too much Arrested Development – quoting or love. (Mystery Magnet.)  I’m also with Dash about late rising and his disdain of soup. 

This audiobook was a wonderful way to close a series I have deep and abiding affection for. Honestly, I thoroughly enjoy when Gregory Ashe deviates from total emotional carnage. Not saying those books aren’t entertaining, they are, but this was a genuinely endearing series with surprising depth. It was poignant and witty and the majority of the cozy murder/mysteries were solid and engaging.

Dash and Bobby are completely cemented in my heart as fictional favourites. Dash was a fabulous narrator throughout. He had growth while staying true to who he always was. That’s good writing. Dash is so very human — anxiety, tenacity through fear, bravery, care, self-deprecating vulnerability, frustration. Bobby remained predominantly calm, gentle but firm, initially emotionally avoidant, a man of few words at times, with a quiet sense of humour, bronze-eyed and gloriously built, falling for Dash but unsure how to proceed with that. Dash always considering Bobby a snack. Bobby always had my attention when he spoke. Andrew Gibson narrates this series to perfection. (You may also know him as Blake Lockheart.)

I enjoyed the found family aspects more than the dysfunctional biological variety of family – not suggesting the Last Picks weren’t without their share of crazy, they all have a bit of that – thank goodness. It was incredibly fitting that Vivienne Carver takes a final curtain call here, and she did it with style, in my opinion. I loved the warmth and strength of Millie, her, uh, enthusiasm, and the motherly Indira. Fox and Keme kept things sarcastically real. Absolutely 5 well earned stars for Retool.