Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Again with Feeling
SERIES: The Last Picks
AUTHOR: Gregory Ashe
PUBLISHER: Hodgkin & Blount
LENGTH: 211 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 16. 2024
BLURB:
We might not be doomed to repeat the past. But it’s pretty likely.
When Dashiell Dawson Dane receives a phone call from his nemesis Vivienne Carver (okay, one of his nemeses), he’s caught off guard—to say the least—by her request: help solve the murder of her brother, who disappeared almost thirty years ago. His gut tells him to say no. But with Bobby preparing to move out of Hemlock House, Dash sees the perfect opportunity for them to spend more time together, whether Bobby likes it or not.
The local police seem convinced that Vivienne was responsible for her brother’s death—an opinion shared by some of her family. But the more Dash investigates, the more convinced he becomes that Vivienne is being set up. Secrets have been accumulating for decades, and the most dangerous lies, Dash knows, are the ones we want to believe the most. After all these years, answers might finally be within reach—and someone is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the sixth book in this series and it needs to be read in order. The whole dynamic of the Last Picks and Deputy Bobby and Dash builds from the first book.
A few months after the end of the last story, things have come to a sort of “new normal” where Dash is now texting constantly with his ex, Hugo, since Hugo has convinced him to cowrite a book with him. Bobby is serially dating since Dash “told him to” and it’s pretty clear neither of them is exactly happy. But they carry on, despite the awkwardness of the situation. That awkwardness is quite obvious to everyone else even though Bobby and Dash pretty much refuse to acknowledge it.
It’s a nice summer evening and gang is all out foe drinks when and fun when Bobby leaves for a date with his flavor of the week. Dash gets a very unexpected call from his former boss/attempted murderer Vivienne Carver from prison. Color him surprised. He’s even more surprised when she asks him for a favor. It’s pretty big on the scale of favors though. It seems her long-missing brother’s body has been found after more than 30 years. And it seems like since Vivienne has already been convicted of a couple of murders and some attempted murders, everyone wants to pin this one on her too. But she didn’t do it and she appeals to Dash’s better nature to make sure that whoever did murder Richard does not get away with it.
Reluctantly Dash takes it on and he tells Bobby because of what happened with the last sleuthing. Bobby is very unhappy when Dash seems to never consider his safety and nearly gets himself killed multiple times. The first run-in with Vivienne’s family outside Astoria is very bizarre. The story gets more bizarre as the visit goes one. Between Vivienne’s sister, ex-BIL, ex-husband, father and the deceased brother, let’s just say there is a lot to unpack here. And with a body being in the water for so long, physical evidence isn’t exactly going to save the day.
The good thing about this case is that it does push Bobby and Dash to spend time together. And they need to figure things out. The level of uncomfortable that they are with each other when they are supposedly best friends is getting pretty annoying to everybody. It’s time to fish or cut bait!
Whew! Thank goodness there is some ACTUAL progress in this book. I was really frustrated with Dash in the last book especially. He was starting to appear to be cowardly. The circumstances of this mystery and the way he and Bobby have to communicate luckily helped move things along. I enjoyed the mystery part of this story also. It wrapped up pretty nicely and also helped push the relationship along between our reluctant MCs. This put the series back on track for me and it might be my favorite in the series so far! Highly recommended and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
RATING: 
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