Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: By the Book
SERIES: The Last Picks
AUTHOR: Gregory Ashe
PUBLISHER: Hodgkin & Blount
LENGTH: 241 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 10. 2025
BLURB:
A stolen book. A desperate killer. And two very meddlesome parents.
Dashiell Dawson Dane might have a problem. It’s not a huge problem. In fact, all things considered, life is good—he’s got a wonderful boyfriend, fantastic friends, and a home where he’s genuinely happy, maybe for the first time ever. He’s even writing regularly. (Okay, mostly regularly.)
There is, however, the teensiest issue with money—in that, he doesn’t have any.
And it turns out Dash isn’t the only one strapped for cash. The Hastings Rock Public Library has recently been defunded by the mayor and the city council, and the town is in an uproar.
To keep the library open, Dash hosts a charity auction at Hemlock House. But disaster strikes when an exceptionally valuable book is stolen before the fundraiser can begin. And when Dash finds the mayor dead—and Hastings Rock’s head librarian refuses to provide an alibi—he quickly becomes tangled in yet another murder investigation.
How could things get any worse?
Oh. Right.
A surprise visit from his parents.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the seventh 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.
Once again, Dash finds himself embroiled in a mystery. He agrees to host an auction at Hemlock House to raise funds for the library. The main prize is a supposed diary of the builder of the house. There are some problems – with the utilities and his parents showing up in the hours just before the event. Then after a distraction the book in question disappears! But who stole it and why?
There are a number of suspects, from the mayor who wants to close the library which sits on very valuable property, to the book antiquarian expert to the suspicious woman that Dash keeps seeing in town. His parents run off attempting to break and enter any number of building and cause a lot of mayhem for the Sheriff and the deputies. Poor Bobby is caught in the middle and Dash is furious and worried.
Then the bodies start piling up. Who has the book and why?
I think this is my favorite book of the series so far. Dash has REALLY grown up a lot over the last two books. Bobby and Dash are figuring out their relationship now that they actually have moved things forward. Dash has perfected the art of avoidance but when his parents show up and he has to deal with murder and mayhem and his friends pestering his parents on the dirt on a young Dash 😉 well things get a little bit tense. His parents constant interference and running off half-cocked like they are in one of their books just about pushes Dash over the edge. It also has impact on his new relationship with Bobby too – some helpful, some not so much. Dash and his parents have not been on the same page for a while because of typical reasons. Dash’s parents have a vision of what his life should be and they feel like he’s not “living up to his potential” and as a consequence they want to take over and decide things FOR him, not with him. Dash is fighting his resentment of same and also the neglect that he suffered as a kid when his parent were very much wrapped up in their careers and not their family. They have a vision of the future but they haven’t considered Dash’s feelings at all. There are some extenuating circumstances and when Dash finally has enough, he realizes he’s got to be honest and set boundaries and then stick to them. He’s got to start handling things himself. But he doesn’t have to do it alone 😉 After all he still has the Last Picks and Bobby in his corner. And he likes his life. He just needs for it to be a little more profitable/lucrative on the money front 😀
I can’t wait for the next book. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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