Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Last Chance

SERIES:  Kip O’Connor MM Mystery

AUTHOR:  S.C. Wynne

PUBLISHER:  Wynne Wynne Publishing

LENGTH:  204 pages

RELEASE DATE:  July 31, 2022

BLURB:

Wait just a minute. A whole month has passed and no one has been murdered in Pearl Cove?

Things are settling down in Pearl Cove as Kip and Merrick fumble their way through a new relationship. There’s no denying the two men have deep feelings for each other, but trust issues can play havoc when people don’t communicate well.

When Kip’s office manager, Helen, has her home burgled, but nothing is stolen, the Pearl Cove PD have little interest in solving the case. Kip, Charlene, and Helen decide a little amateur sleuthing couldn’t hurt anything.

Not surprisingly, Police Chief Dawson doesn’t agree. He whole heartedly disapproves of his boyfriend’s plan to nab the trespasser. But if the police won’t do anything, Kip isn’t about to turn his back on his friend.

In fact, it’s rather fun to play detective… until the thief tries to murder them.

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

REVIEW:  

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

This story picks up right where the last one ended.  Kip and Merrick are now dating, much to the delight of well pretty much everyone.  Merrick’s job continues to be demanding and he is working hard to not let that interfere with his relationship with Kip.  But things being what they are, he’s sacrificing sleep to spend time with Kip every day – well every night at least 😉  Kip understands but he worries about Merrick.  They are still walking a little bit on eggshells around each other not – not wanting to get into any arguments about unimportant things.  Things seems to be going OK except that Merrick is hiding that meetings he’s being asked to attend include Peter, his ex.  Hmmmmm.

While Kip’s life seems to have quieted down, Helen, his office manager is definitely having a time.  First her house is broken into.  Then it seems she’s been having some trouble with the neighbors.  There is one bright spot though with a new neighbor who has moved in down the street who seems to take a liking to her 🙂  She hasn’t dated in years, but if Kip’s right, there might be a little spark there and Elwood seems like a nice guy.  The bigger issue is that even after Helen takes step to improve security, things still happen.  When the PCPD doesn’t seem to be pursuing the case with any vigor, Helen and Charlene and Kip decide to start poking around to see if they can get a break in the case.  But their amateur sleuthing seems to cause multiple issues – with the crazy neighbors and with Merrick!

While Merrick isn’t happy at all with Kip’s escapades, he does admit that there aren’t a lot of leads and Kip isn’t necessarily wrong to want to help his friend.  Things are finally back on track with them when more chaos and death ensure.  And it seems that Kip and company are still in danger!

This was an excellent follow up to the second book in this series and we get to see Kip and Merrick trying to work it out as a couple.  They both have issues.  Kip still has a hard time trusting Merrick after their history.  Merrick is struggling to not alienate Kip in any way since it’s taken forever to get Kip in the first place.  They tiptoe around a lot of things and then there is that lying by omission about Peter being involved in Merrick’s business meeting.  Kip tries hard not to be paranoid about Peter because on paper Peter seems like the much better match for Merrick as they are both type A personalities interested in climbing the career ladder 🙂  But Merrick knows he belongs with Kip and he is going to do what is necessary to keep him – despite the bad advice he’s given.  I really enjoyed Kip’s shenanigans with Helen and Charlene.  They are a hilarious posse. Kip’s brother is also a hoot.  And that ending?  Soooo sweet 🙂  These two are finding their way and it lovely to watch.  Recommended for fans of cozy mysteries, opposites attract romances.

RATING:

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