Between You and Me

(The Last Picks Book 5)

De: Gregory Ashe

Narrado por: Andrew Gibson

Hunting a killer is scary. Talking about your feelings is scarier. Dashiell Dawson Dane is certain the universe is conspiring against him. After all, things have been good—almost too good—for way too long. He’s got a great group of friends. He’s writing regularly. And things with Bobby seem like they might, maybe, possibly be moving beyond friend territory. It’s all so good, in fact, that it feels like the setup for something truly catastrophic. Not to mention, it’s the weekend before Valentine’s Day. So, when Dash and his friends visit Shipwreck Shores, a local amusement park, he’s not terribly surprised when he stumbles across a body in the fun house. The surprising part comes when the body disappears before park security—or the sheriff—can see it. And while no one will say it to his face, some people in Hastings Rock seem to suspect Dash is making it up. No body means no official investigation, so Dash finds himself forced into his own search for answers. But the killer isn’t done yet. And Dash’s sleuthing sets the two of them on a collision course.

©2024 Gregory Ashe (P)2025 Gregory Ashe

Oh Dashby!

[4.5] A highly anticipated return to Hastings Rock, ever the charmingly quaint town despite its recent tick in corpse count, and new locations! The local amusement park, powered on for Valentine's Day, proved to be the best setting for action and intrigue and warpy perceptions that only an otherworldly dimension can bring. Our swashbuckling buccaneers, particularly Dash, can (unfortunately) attest to that through and through.

The mystery. I was locked in with my trusty notebook and pen, trying to pin down the culprit(s) and motives before the big reveal. I don't know if it was this burst of intentional effort, familiarity with GA's writing style, my recent dive into Agatha Christie sharpening my armchair detective senses, and/or some dropped hints that were possibly too on the nose, but it's rare for me to land this close to the truth. As my success rates are nothing to call home about, I'd be curious to know if anyone else felt the same. And the final showdown, fun and thrilling in more ways than one!

Seasoned Ashochists know how much GA enjoys the close shaves, the woeful misses, the foils and parallels, the could-have-beens, the what-ifs. It's enough to propel me to the gym with the speed of a storm cloud. All this excess energy whirling inside ready to be burned. Truthfully, so much of the introspective exploration of Dash's inner landscape and the scales falling from his eyes rang true as a fellow runner (in the emotional sense). I have a tendency to flee in the opposite direction of any hint of interest aimed in my direction. Real people and their emotions? Warning! Abort! Initiate escape protocol 7240! Fear of [insert any word of your choosing] overriding the brain's logic center is my default mode. But each and every step forward and backward were integral in the full scope of his character arc.

Is it any surprise the Last Picks crew is back and ready to get Dash involved in more ambitious mystery-solving? Compared to the other books, Dash seemed very committed to lone-wolfing the nitty-gritty parts this round. But as the pattern suggests, the last remaining member gets their heart-to-heart moment with our leading man (and a rather sweet one at that!). I just want scenes like that to go on forever. Andrew Gibson continues to do a fantastic job bringing out the emotions and tone of this series!

Feeling very frustrated...

I get the "slow burn" aspect of the series, but the excruciating miscommunication between Dash & Bobby is frustrating this far into the series.

I love the characters, the verse, and the mysteries are superb. I would just like to see a bit of movement on the romance front going forward.

Roller Coaster ride

This is the fifth book in GA’s cozy mysteries series call The Last Picks. If you’ve reached listening to book 5 you are obviously invested in the quirky characters of this series and Dash and Bobby’s “relationship”. Well, they are in full force in this story. So strap on for a roller-coaster on the relationship side and there is a great mystery, My main takeaway from this book is GA has ascended from King of Angst to Lord Master and Commander of Angst!!! My goodness why do I do this to myself?

So the gang decides to take a trip to the local amusement park and things are going great until Dash finds a body. Keep in mind this story takes place about 2 months after Broken Bird (book 4). At this point shouldn’t someone be asking questions about why people dropping dead around Dash? But I digress. However, the body “disappears” and nobody believes Dash and thinks he is just looking for attention. Nobody but the Scooby gang and the mystery investigation begins. Meanwhile during all this it appears that Bobby and Dash’s relationship is on a roller coaster of emotions. It’s torturous to hear and a few times I had to stop listening so I didn’t pull my hair out. And of course, GA being the Lord Master and Commander he is, provides a “twist” at the end that guarantees I will listen to Book 6.

Andrew Gibson does his usual superb job of bringing this story to life. IMHO the audiobook is the way to go with this series. A++++

I was given a free copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review

An excellent addition to an excellent series

Wow, going back to this point in the story eight months later was a trip! Looking back on this however many books later, I was less irritated by the Dash-and-Bobby dance than I initially had been... though there was still an "argh!" factor (and I'm still not sure what happened after the end of book four).

Overall, I enjoyed the mystery in this book (and three cheers for the aro/ace rep!), and I'd recommend this series to anyone who wants some signature Greg Ashe character development without the brutality of his other books.

My thanks to the author for a complimentary copy of this audiobook.

Another great installment

This series is my favorite from this author.
So different from the others.
I just love the dynamic between all these characters.
This one, had a little too much self doubts and woe is me. But the storyline kept everything else going nicely.

Narration was perfect.
Can't wait for the next one.