Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Last Date

SERIES:  Kip O’Connor MM Mystery

AUTHOR:  S.C. Wynne

PUBLISHER:  Wynne Wynne Publishing

LENGTH:  202 pages

RELEASE DATE:  January 30, 2022

BLURB:

Some dates are simply murder.

After barely surviving a terrifying stalker last month, Kip is reexamining his life choices. There’s nothing like almost dying to make you take stock of things.

One bright spot is that the ever maddening Merrick Dawson has stopped following him around picking on him. Merrick has begun dating Peter Harris, who by all accounts is a wonderful guy. Peter is nice. He’s handsome. He’s downright annoyingly perfect.

When Kip is asked out on a romantic sunset cruise by one of Pearl Cove’s most eligible bachelors, he decides he has nothing to lose. Unless he wants to spend the rest of his days alone, he needs to be proactive about finding love.
But when Kip shows up for the cruise, instead of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries, he finds his date dead.

This is book two in my Kip O’Connor M/M Cozy Mystery series. Each book has a cozy feel to it and there is a strong romantic (slow burn) storyline in each book. No on-page steam but some mild violence.

REVIEW:  

Note:  As this is book two in this series and directly follows the action of Last Gasp and I would recommend reading them in order.

Kip has moved on from the crazy stalker and the thefts and goings on in the first book of the series.  He’s back to work and loving his job and his dog Spot.  His employees are back to their old ways as well – hanging on the town gossip and trying to get him to spend more time with police chief Merrick Dawson.  But Merrick is with Peter now and as Valentine’s Day approaches, Kip is feeling like a bit of a loser with no date on the horizon.  He agrees to meet his brother Thomas at a local restaurant for drinks but as he’s going in, he runs into Allister Green.  Allister Green was ahead of him in school and Kip doesn’t even realize Allister knows his name until he asks him out for a Valentine’s Date on his boat.  Allister is handsome and rich and what the heck?  It’s just a date.  In the meanwhile, Peter and Merrick show up – so Kip knows he’s been ambushed again by his brother.

Kip is looking forward to his date.  It’s been a strange week in town what with a mysterious theft, but no matter.  Kip would really like the night to go well – despite the misgivings of some about Allister.  Allister’s family is also going through a weird time with the return of a long lost brother – who Kip keeps running into by coincidence.  But the date doesn’t go well as Kip discovers Allister dead in his cabin.  And the first detective on the scene seems to think Kip had something to do with that.  Merrick can’t be seen to be have a conflict, so he tries to stay away from Kip even though he’s worried.  Their relationship has taken a weird turn after the last month and while Kip doesn’t hate Merrick anymore, he’s not sure exactly what his feelings are and he knows Merrick is with Peter anyway.

Kip is of course disturbed by this latest death.  It seems like he’s destined to be alone 🙁  Then there is the little issue of discovering that Allister was definitely murdered but who could have done it?  Add in the little twist of someone attempting to murder the long lost brother and things really get tangled.  When Kip gets attacked at the local watering hole and he keeps thinking he’s been followed, Merrick gets really worried too.  He really has feelings for Kip and he wants to know where he stands. Because if they are really going to try for something, he needs to be able to move on in his life too with a clean slate 🙂

Well I really enjoyed this second book!  It’s a slow burn romance between Merrick and Kip.  Kip is finally able to let the past go when Merrick truly apologizes for his past behavior.  They are trying to be friends, but it’s clear that there is more simmering beneath the surface.  Kip is confused because he’s spent so many years seeing Merrick as his brother’s best friend and his childhood tormentor that he’s having trouble reconciling that past baggage with his real attraction to Merrick.  But Merrick is determined to get Kip to understand how he really feels about him.  He’s apologized and his admission that he was a bit at a loss as to how approach Kip and convince him that his feelings are real – that he wants to try for something real.  It takes Kip allowing Merrick in as a friend and then more to get them over the line to something more.  When they start spending quality time together – alone without any stalkers or would be jealous exes hanging around – things get real.  Kip can’t imagine that Merrick is really interested in him, but Merrick is quite persuasive 😀  I love these two and the push-pull relationship between them.  Another really fun aspect of this series is how everyone else can see that Merrick has had eyes for Kip for so long and Kip is the last one to know!  Between their mothers, Kip’s employees and his brother, everything has seen the writing for the wall – they’ve just all been waiting for Kip to open his eyes!  I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book now that Kip and Merrick are together – because you know that’s not going to be smooth sailing 😉  Highly recommended for fans of the mysteries, slow burn romances, friends to lovers and really love small town settings.

RATING: 

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