Dead in the Pond (Grasmere Cottage Mystery, #2)

by Dahlia Donovan

[layawaydragon]

I received this book for free from Silver Dagger Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Content Warning: Murder, Attempted Murder, Stalking, Arson, Kidnapping, Ableism, Racism.

So, I was actually only supposed to review the first book, Dead in the Garden. Instead, I totally read all three back to back in quick succession. Great reading experience for me, harder to review as I think of all three books as one, like seeing the forest instead of the trees. Which leaves me to review the whole in general terms. I HIGHLY recommend reading this series and you're going to want the next one right away anyways.

Valor is a typical English lad, grew up privileged but was disowned for being gay and falling in love with an Autistic Asian Indian man, Bishan. He and Bishan met in at their boarding school, which comes with an old boys network that isn't the usual terrible scum.

They're life is pretty good until someone murders the former school bully, leaves the body in their garden, and frames Bishan. Not so good.

Valor and Bishan aren't the typical bungling amateurs. They work with the police. They listen and follow the detective's instructions. I love their partnership and cooperation with the detectives and the system. I'm not saying their perfect citizens or are necessarily happy about it, but they do it like most people actually would.
grasmere cottage mystery series isn't a weekend or two week romp on the wild side.
This series stays with the pair while they're trying to survive a murderous terror campaign. Because of the lengthened timeline, it does feel slower and longer than most cozies I've read, The stakes here are real. There's no one really off limits or acts out of bounds for this killer. It makes it more suspenseful than the typical cozy mystery. A particular murder or two was legit shocking and hurtful.

And in the end? Scars remain. Valor and Bishan get their happy ending for now like any good romantic suspense and cozy mystery. But not exempt from real world consequences. I want more of this pair, but it would be difficult to continue the series with more killers.

I will so be keeping an eye out for more of Donovan's work though.


bishan's perspective is perfection
There was this one particular moment I will never forgot. If it was seen through Valor's eyes, it'd be an easy sell as a romantic gesture and the gap between readers and allistic readers would have grown. BUT because it was in Bishan's POV, I was legit confused why Valor thought it'd be romantic! With Valor sputtering and trying to explain and talking about it, it really drove how how different and difficult navigating an allistic world is for autistics.

Brilliant code switching between the two perspectives. I think the Autistic aspect is authentic, but I'm an allistic so YMMV. I can confidently say it really helped me see his POV clearly, the differences, and raise my consciousness going forward.
Family Is Important
Bishan's family is soooo cute!! They're supportive but not perfect. They remind me of Simon's family in Simon Vs. actually. I can totally see Valor & Bishan as an older English version of Simon & Blue too.

But I love Valor's found family a little more. That's the stuff I know and love seeing reflected in books. I can never get enough.

My fave though? Their cat, Staccato. He was not harmed during this series. Frogs were only mildly inconvenienced when thrown back over a fence where they below. (Fun article to explain how frogs fly) Birds, not so lucky. Sorry :/

Killer Ableism
The killer doesn't get a lot of spotlight in the end, and I get why. If this was a standard psychopath, I'd be okay. But the sweeping dismissiveness of "craziness" when there's clear treatable mental health issues and how they lash out with the blame...I am not okay with that. Bishan has trouble navigating an allistic world but it gets explored. The mental illness of the antagonist, not so much. Hence the ableism tag. If you're having a bad or sensitive mental health day, my fellow neurodivergents, wait a bit before finishing this one until you're looking up again.