Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Always Murder
SERIES: The Last Picks
AUTHOR: Gregory Ashe
PUBLISHER: Hodgkin & Blount
LENGTH: 241 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2025
BLURB:
The only thing worse than murder is…no murder?
It’s Christmastime, and Dashiell Dawson Dane (just Dash) is looking forward to a quiet holiday season—no unexpected visitors, no relationship drama, and absolutely no murders.
But when his friend Millie asks for help, Dash says yes. Because that’s what friends do.
Millie’s brother, he learns, has been accused of stealing packages from his job as a delivery driver. Worse, he’s been fired. So, Millie’s request is simple: clear her brother’s name—and, in the process, save Christmas.
No small task, it turns out, as Dash faces a suspiciously hostile warehouse manager, stumbles onto a family of porch pirates, and somehow gets roped into the Nought Family Nativity Pageant. And when Millie’s brother disappears, Dash fears the worst. In Dash’s (growing) experience, that can only mean one thing…
Because it’s always murder.
Isn’t it?
REVIEW:
Note: This is the ninth 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.
It’s Dash and Bobby’s first Christmas as a couple. Same for Millie and Keme. And they are all gathered with Millie’s family for a festive holiday meal: Mom Christine, brothers Paul and Ryan, Dad Matthew, sisters Cassandra and Angeline, and their boyfriends David (maybe) and Elliott. This is not a comfortable meal. Millie’s mother ignores her and Keme – who she repeatedly refers to as “that boy” and fawns over the boyfriends and Dash. Dash is sure Bobby is going to kill him for dragging him out on one of his very few free nights for this.
Then Millie begs Dash to hell Paul. Paul has been fired from his package delivery job and accused of stealing the packages he was “delivering”. Only his packages have gone missing. Millie is sure he isn’t guilty. He and his brother Ryan fight all the time. Dash is driven a bit over the edge with these two numbskulls but he can never turn down Millie. So he gets involved. Hey, at least it isn’t murder. Or is it?
While Dash isn’t making a lot of progress on his novel, he and Millie are busily trying to solve this case. But they are running into roadblocks and it is the week before Christmas. Bobby has some ideas. And then when Dash discovered the dunderheaded behavior of Paul, he’s even less thrilled to be chasing down the porch pirate in question. But then Paul gets hurt. Millie’s family is furious. And the pieces of the puzzle start dropping for Dash.
Well Millie’s family, the Noughts, sure know how to put the “fun” in dysfunctional 😉 Millie’s parents, her siblings and the boyfriends were something else. I found myself chuckling numerous times with the craziness of Millie’s mom Christine. Her brothers. Oh my. The description of them was so perfect – I could totally picture them in my head.
As usual, the Last Picks are there to support each other. Despite the craziness of the package thefts, the missing brother, Keme and Millie trying to find their footing with this new relationship, everyone is trying to do the right thing. Sometimes the wrong way 😉 Even Bobby and Dash aren’t immune to negotiating and feeling their way along with this relationship. Bobby is still struggling with expressing his emotions and standing up for himself. Dash is just kind of blithely going along assuming he knows what Bobby wants. In the end, the both realize they could have handled things better. Bobby is tired and overworked and Dash does wants what’s best for Bobby but it takes him a while to get to working out that maybe Bobby might have some pertinent input 😉 Millie is stepping into adulting in a scary way too. She and Keme will have to work it out and at least they seem well on their way. I’m interested to see what the future holds for this gang! Another fun adventure for this quirky crew. Recommended!
RATING: 
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