Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Retool
SERIES: The Last Picks
AUTHOR: Gregory Ashe
PUBLISHER: Hodgkin & Blount
LENGTH: 240 pages
RELEASE DATE: December 22, 2025
BLURB:
What would you do to get everything you wanted?
Life is good for Dashiell Dawson Dane (just Dash). Things with his boyfriend, Bobby, are better than ever. Teaching at a local college has provided routine and stability. And to his complete surprise, his self-published novel is doing well. Really well. So, when a mystery writers’ conference comes to Hastings Rock, Dash is thrilled to attend.
He’s less thrilled when Vivienne Carver, his former nemesis—the woman who framed him for murder and then tried to kill him—appears at the conference, released from prison and determined to reclaim both fame and fortune. And, as usual, Vivienne has a plan.
But when Vivienne is murdered the first night of the conference, and Dash is—once again—the prime suspect, he’ll have to find the real killer to prove his innocence.
Even worse, Dash might be right back where he started.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the twelfth and final 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.
Dash’s book is doing well. His teaching is doing well. He’s attending a mystery writers conference at the college where he teaches. Everything is going fine. Until Vivienne Carver shows up. Yes, that Vivienne Carver. Her former employer, convicted murderer and former nemesis who tried to frame Dash as well attempted to kill him as part of her plot. She should be in jail. I mean who gets out of jail in less than two years after being convicted of murder, fraud, attempted murder, etc. And yet, there she is. Better still, she is suggesting that she and Dash work together. Say what???
Dash is shook. Then he sees Vivienne arguing with someone. He attempts to follow her. After losing her, he does manage to find her. In a creek. He cannot buy a break. Again, he’s the number one suspect 🙁 But it turns out that Vivienne has difficult relationships with more people at this conference. Oh and someone wants Dash to do a TV series based on his book as well as true crime.
When another dead body is found, things see to be getting more dangerous. Especially after Dash seems to be the next target. Needless to say Dash and his friends and his boyfriend Detective Bobby Mai need to take an all hands on deck approach to finding who is being all this mayhem!
Well I’m very sorry to see this series end. This mystery was another good one and there are plenty of twists and turns. Bobby and Dash are trying to figure out where their relationship is going. The potential TV show is a wrinkle Bobby didn’t see coming and he’s scared. Not just of Dash getting hurt but of Dash going off to LA and finding someone else. Luckily, these guys have grown and are able to talk through the issues instead of giving up and clamming up. I appreciated where they ended up. I hope that we might get some glimpses of them and the last picks sometime in the future 😉
RATING: 
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