Genre/Tags: Queer Cozy Mystery, Romance

Author: Gregory Ashe

Story Rating: 5 Stars

Narrator: Andrew Gibson

Narrator Rating: 5 Stars

Length: 7 hours and 25 minutes 

Audiobook Buy Links: Audible

Grief is the price of love.

When an upscale restaurant opens in Hastings Rock, Dashiell Dawson Dane (just Dash) and his friends are excited to get reservations for the soft open. After all, winter on the Oregon Coast is the quiet season, and Dash is looking forward to a little excitement. (And, of course, dessert.)

Instead, their arrival at the restaurant brings them face to face with Indira’s ex-husband, Mal. And when Mal ends up dead, Indira is the chief suspect.

Dash is sure he can prove Indira’s innocence, but before he has the chance, tragedy strikes Bobby’s family. With Bobby drawn back to Portland, Dash finds himself torn between helping his boyfriend and saving Indira.

And the killer isn’t done yet.

Review: 

I cannot believe I am writing a review for book #10 in a series. I am a notorious series drop out. However, I love this series. There’s no swearing, jokes are made about that and the lack of sex. I don’t mind swearing or sex, swearing and sex, but it gels with old school cozies. I like that Ashe pays homage to that. Also, Dash never gets to have his complete time in the sun about how he worked out whodunnit and his aha! moment with them because the person concerned opens up and blabs. So typical of cozy books or similar ilk TV series. I remember always thinking how ridiculous these people were that confessed, and when. They’d spill the tea just as they were about to get away with murder. So I’m used to that being a thing. The title is perfect. It made me laugh in Wham Line when Dash gets confession gazumped in quadrophonic sound, yes, I’m old. I’m here for it all because the character obsessive that lives inside me loves the characters and the plot. It’s Dash’s POV so it’s good I’m a big fan of his. 

There are two significant situations happening simultaneously in Wham Line. Indira is accused of murdering her ex husband, Mal, who has recently set up Mizzenmast, a restaurant in Hastings Rock, and Bobby’s mother dies suddenly. Grief is the theme. Loneliness too. Even though Indira and Mal were together a seeming lifetime ago, there’s a lot of deep-well emotions tied to that marriage. And Bobby is hurt and angry about his mother’s death. There are reasons for the why of it, the biggest is that grief is a series of feeling sad and angry on high rotation for those left behind. Bobby’s father is the Mai family purveyor of ‘we don’t talk about our feelings, we nod, or say ‘I’m fine’ or it’s nothing at all.’ Which leaves Dash feeling awkward, uncomfortable, anxiously needing to fill in gaps. 

Dash and Bobby: Dash is caught between wanting to help Indira in Hastings Rock and wanting to be a supportive boyfriend to Bobby in Portland. Bobby isn’t making it easy and he hurts Dash on several occasions. Because of Dash’s background, he feels like things are his fault, and while he knows Bobby is grieving, he doesn’t know why Bobby seems specifically frustrated at him. He’s been alongside Bobby, made it clear he’s there to talk to at any time. He checks in without being intrusive. He’s also thoughtful, doing things like sourcing lotus flowers because Bobby can’t. He asks Bobby reasonable questions but Bobby isn’t answering or turns his back to Dash in bed. Bobby even loses his temper on a number of occasions. Very un-Bobby like.

“Okay,” I said. “That sounds really frustrating. Let me help you—”
“I don’t need anyone to help me!” 

It also doesn’t help that Bobby’s brother, Eric, tells Bobby to call West, Bobby’s ex fiancé, because West and their mother had a good relationship. He was being a jerk when he said it in front of Dash. Then, when something exceedingly painful occurs, Bobby calls West just to talk, something Bobby hasn’t been doing with Dash – Houston, we have a problem! So, of course, Dash does what he does best when options seem limited and it’s painful, he runs. I didn’t blame him. Because a shutdown Bobby Mai sits behind a giant wall and won’t come out or, in this case, he’s angry when he does. Dash feels like maybe he isn’t enough for his boyfriend. Which is a horrible feeling to carry. Not enough. Whilst it’s still an assumption, it’s not an unreasonable one to make.    

Murder/Mystery: I enjoyed the murder/mystery in this book. Any number of people in and around Hastings Rock could have been the killer. Then, when there’s more than one body, it becomes, who would want both of them dead? There are plenty of people who have reasons to bump off Mal. He has a substantial history of burning people within the restaurant business. Burning women in relationships. A number of people have argued with him in Hastings Rock. Sparky, the other body, was a bit of a wench, one who was also tied to Mal through a prior relationship. However, the murder weapon used on Mal, a gun, is found at Indira’s so she’s the #1 suspect. The Last Picks, sans Dash, decide to go wild and hide Indira because, as is the standard theme, Indira couldn’t possibly have killed Mal. 

Overall:

Wham Line is a series favourite along with Again With Feeling, my actual favourite, just nuzzling Evil All Along out of second place. It has a strong cozy vibe, a good romance element, the humour is so good. Dash and Bobby are getting even closer after actually doing some more of this thing called communicating hard feelings, something of a necessity within adult relationships. Gregory Ashe keeps the characters innately true to who they’ve always been, and Andrew Gibson does the best job of narrating them, adding extra life to all of these inhabitants of Hastings Rock, Oregon. I couldn’t imagine anyone else narrating this series. I’ve already bought the audiobook of book #11, Script Swap, and I’m looking forward to diving back into the random, the quirky, the cozy. For Wham Line it’s 5 Stars!