This third instalment of Gregory Ashe’s The Last Picks series is so full of delicious Dash-and-Bobby goodness that I almost forgot there’s a mystery to be solved! Which is not a complaint because I am HERE for all the dumb-boys-in-love angstiness the author does so well. The bombshell dropped at the end of the previous book looked set to dash (heh!) all hopes of a romance in that quarter, although as long-time readers know, he likes to torture us a bit with the will-they/won’t-they and ramp up the UST before finally getting his central couple together. It’s my book catnip.

So, in Doom Magnet, the angst-o-meter is still being cranked up on the relationship front as the changes set in motion at the end of Dude Magnet loom ever closer with Deputy Bobby and his now-fiancé, West, preparing for their imminent move to Portland. Dash is doing his absolute best to be supportive and encouraging, but he can see, just as everyone else can, that Deputy Bobby is miserable and really doesn’t want to leave. Despite trying to remain in denial over the exact nature of his feelings, Dash finally reaches a point where he has to start asking himself some difficult questions and, thanks to a supportive nudge in the right direction from Indira, to see things more clearly.

And on top of all this, the murder of an unscrupulous property developer needs investigating. With the Sheriff’s office barking up the wrong tree, Dash worries that the killer will escape justice – and he can’t let that happen, even as he knows he’s likely putting himself in the line of fire, too.

Amid all the Olympic-level pining and mystery-solving, there’s some fabulous character development going on. We learn something of Deputy Bobby’s backstory and begin to understand a little more about why he acts the way he does; how he’s struggling under the weight of parental disappointment and how he’s trying so hard to be what West wants while neglecting his own needs and wellbeing in the process. And Dash, while still very recognisably the same socially inept, insecure, loveable mess we met in Mystery Magnet, is gaining in confidence and in the ability and willingness to speak his mind, and given his struggle to commit ideas to paper (seen in the previous books) seeing him push past it and finally get his short story written was incredibly satisfying. I particularly enjoy the ‘meta’ nature of these books and how Mr. Ashe describes Dash’s issues with writing in ways that feel very true to life, and I liked the further exploration of Dash’s relationship with his ridiculously self-obsessed parents. He’s such a wonderfully complex character and I’m enjoying the insights into his personality and watching him slowly coming to challenge his self-perception.

Doom Magnet being so Dash ‘n’ Bobby heavy means we see a bit less of the Last Picks this time around, but even when they’re on the periphery there is plenty of affectionate, snarky banter flying about, and it’s already very clear that they’ve become the family Dash has never really known. The importance of having people around who get you can never be underestimated, and Dash is so fortunate to have found his people just when he needed them. His relationship with Keme, especially, comes on leaps and bounds in this book – they bicker and tease and know exactly how to wind each other up, but there’s some real big/kid brother energy going on there and I was pleased with the further glimpses we get into Keme’s character and situation. I also want to praise the nuanced portrayal of West; it would be easy to dislike him because we mostly see him annoyed with Bobby, but it’s clear that although West genuinely cares for Bobby he just doesn’t see him clearly. And because Bobby is so bad at expressing his own wants and needs (or is so reluctant to express them), West has no real idea of how far his idea of what a happy life looks like differs from Bobby’s. West is a ‘road-block’, not the bad guy.

With the series really hitting its stride now, it’s become apparent that these books are (to paraphrase a very famous British advertising slogan) ‘not just cosy mysteries… they’re Gregory Ashe cosy mysteries’. He’s playing by the rules of the genre, but isn’t skimping on the depth of the character study, the cleverness of the mysteries, the delightfully quirky humour, the heartwarming relationships and the gut-wrenching, slow-burn romance that are the hallmarks of his other, ‘grittier’ books.

I haven’t said much about the mystery in this review, but it’s well-put together and I liked seeing Dash and Deputy Bobby working together to try to solve it (and watching jealous!Bobby making an appearance). I admit to a wry smile when I realised the slight-of-hand the author had employed, literally telling the reader which part of the mystery writer’s handbook he was going to use, but then skilfully diverting our attention elsewhere until he smacks us with it in the reveal.

Doom Magnet is my favourite Last Picks book so far. I recognise that not everyone likes a hefty dose of angst in their books, but it’s working very well for me, and I’m really looking forward to the next instalment in the series.